Meet Sharon Tan, Food Blogger, Researcher, Master of Public Health Graduate
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant strain on the restaurant industry with the implementation of province-wide lockdowns and social distancing measures. This is the story of a food blogger who is using her social media platform for public health education and social justice advocacy.
Sharon Tan initially started her Instagram food account “ @sharonseatin” in her undergraduate studies because of her love for food and its power to connect people from diverse backgrounds. Throughout her undergraduate studies in criminology and health studies at the University of Toronto, Sharon’s interest in social justice and equity began to grow. After taking classes involving inspiring professors and unique pedagogies, Sharon describes that she developed a greater appreciation for issues related to health and wellness, particularly involving Indigenous Peoples and equity-seeking communities. She understands health and wellness to encompass dimensions beyond biomedicine and the physical body, but as including mental health, family, and the broader community. Sharon integrates her knowledge and passion for wellness into her food blogging Instagram platform, she said -
“ I wanted to talk about issues that were important to me because I feel like people don’t talk about it enough in this [foodie] community. I think these conversations shouldn’t just be limited to people who have some sort of education. These conversations should be for anyone and they should be accessible to anyone.”
In 2018, when Sharon started her Masters of Public Health, she took interest in developing infographics as a way to educate and advocate for her research interests in Indigenous health, specifically about incarceration of Indigenous parents and inequities in Indigenous access to health care.
With respect to the pandemic, as a food blogger, Sharon recognizes how the mandated restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic have created a shift in how we interact with food and the accessibility of food businesses which impact the struggling food businesses. Prior to the pandemic, Sharon attended events with other foodies that had two main goals: promoting local businesses and providing an interactive forum for people with a shared interest in food and food photography. However, the pandemic has set up additional barriers for people to socialize.
As the daughter of immigrant parents who has been in the restaurant industry for more than 15 years, she can also empathize with the experiences of restaurant owners. The COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures have pressured businesses to reduce staff, some to the extent of shutting down, because of decreased foot traffic, product demand, and revenue. Sharon says social media has the potential to create positive impacts on restaurants. Over the past year, many restaurants have leveraged social media as a creative way to stay afloat during the pandemic by collaborating with foodies and promoting the use of third-party delivery services such as Uber Eats. However, Sharon acknowledges that not all restaurants share the same story - some have faced failure and greater challenges as not every business has access and capacity to maintain third-party services and the competencies to adapt to online platforms. Thus, Sharon stresses the importance of supporting local businesses in ways such as buying restaurant gift cards, promoting local businesses through word of mouth.
In the future, Sharon would like to continue promoting health, wellness, and social justice advocacy through infographics and sharing educational resources. Currently, she uses her platform to create a space for sharing the unique experiences of finding strength among restaurant owners, alongside various social issues that occur throughout the world. Through this, she hopes to foster dialogue about health and social equity.
Sharon Tan’s food account Instagram can be found here:
https://www.instagram.com/sharonseatin/