Kevin Nopulvar believes food is “a lot like art” and has emerged as a hugely popular social media influencer by offering his unique interpretations of different cuisines.
Nopalvar, better known on social media platforms as @how.kev.eats, has over 3.4 million followers on TikTok alone and huge followings on Instagram and YouTube. His formula is simple: Nopalvar gets takeout from different restaurants and samples it on camera, usually from the comfort of his car, and gives his honest opinion on the food.
“If people can see what I see in the restaurant and are inspired to try the food, then my job has been accomplished,” Nopulver told Fox News Digital.
“I still think of myself as a guy eating food in his car,” Nopulver continued, “and people are just waiting to see what I think.”
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Kevin Nopulver gets takeout from various restaurants, samples it in front of the camera, usually while sitting in his car, and gives his honest opinions about the food.
But Nopalvar is not just some guy dining alone in a Tesla, and his glowing reviews can generate millions of social media interactions across multiple platforms and impact a restaurant’s fortunes. While a video of Nopalvar eating Jollibee fried chicken in 2023 garnered a staggering 18.4 million views on TikTok, he said a review of a local restaurant can go just as viral as a national chain if it garners glowing reviews on TikTok. Follow Social media accounts.
Some small businesses have suddenly been inundated with new customers after being featured on the @how.kev.eats account and are struggling to keep up with demand.
Nopalvar is based in Los Angeles. Easy Street Burger and DTown Pizza While these are some of his favorite local spots, he also visits popular stores across the U.S. to offer his opinions.
Although Nopalvar will “storm in” and chastise fast-food chains when he doesn’t like the food, such as calling Whataburger “complete garbage,” he tries to keep his criticism constructive so it doesn’t ruin independent restaurants.
Nopalvar had always been passionate about cooking and briefly attended culinary school after high school, but soon found it “too rigorous” and left to study social science at the University of Southern California. He then tried his luck as a real estate agent, but began to feel burned out when a side hustle creating content for social media started to take off.
“I just decided, ‘Yeah, I’m going to give it my all,’ and I wasn’t making any money, but I took the plunge anyway, and I think it was the best decision I ever made,” Nopulver said.
Kevin Noparver has garnered millions of views for his food reviews.
Kevin Noparvar’s @how.kev.eats has over 3.4 million followers on TikTok alone.
Nopalval, 31, who lived with her parents until she was 29, had lofty ambitions long before she owned her own home, but over the past two years she’d made enough money from content to officially declare it her career.
“The Food Network has been doing this for so long that I actually always thought this could be my job. I was the kind of kid who would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning watching cooking shows instead of watching cartoons or superhero movies or whatever,” he said.
“I realized there was a big shift happening in the way people were consuming content, and that my generation, and the generation after me, were starting to consume most of their content on their phones,” Nopulvar continued. “So I saw the opportunity there to be something like Food Network for me.”
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Nopulvar said food is “both a necessity and a luxury,” opening up a lot of potential for compelling social media content that appeals to people from all walks of life. He believes his content resonates because people use food for everything from stress relief and escapism to muscle building and simply fueling themselves. When people have the same priorities and opinions on the same things, it often leads to fascinating discussions.
“It’s a lot like art,” he said.
“Even if 10 people are in a room and all eating the same dish, all 10 people could have completely different ideas about that dish. One might hate the dish, one might think it’s too salty, one might think it’s the best dish they’ve ever eaten in their life, another might say it’s not sour enough, etc. Every person has a different take on the logic behind a dish,” Nopulvar added. “It’s fascinating to see how different people interpret the exact same thing and that’s what drives me.”
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