Nicola Ussher’s cottage cheese pizza video nears one million views

A cottage cheese pizza recipe by social media influencer Nicola Ussher has attracted about 910,000 views on TikTok and Instagram, Yle reports. Cottage cheese is the main ingredient in the pizza base.

How to make the pizza

For the base, mix 250 ml of cottage cheese, two eggs, 50 ml of oat flour, garlic, onion, basil and salt. Spread the mixture on a baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200C.

Remove the base from the oven and add ketchup or tomato sauce, cheese and turkey pepperoni. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Ussher has also shared recipes using cottage cheese to make bagels, rolled cakes, lasagne, pancakes, crisps, pasta, tortillas, crepes and cheesecake. She has made brownies, rolls and cheesecake with Greek yoghurt; the cheesecake also included cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt have both featured prominently on social media this year. Ussher has been making social media content for years, but it became her full-time job this year. Popular food videos have helped make that possible by attracting commercial marketing deals, which are presented to audiences as collaborations.

Ussher says viewers are particularly interested in food that is healthy, easy to make and looks appealing. “I know a video will do well if it has a good food tip,” she says.

Social media trends affect food sales

Cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt have at times sold out in shops this year. Lidl, Kesko and S Group also report increased sales of quark and sauerkraut.

Cottage cheese has grown in popularity since spring 2024, according to Juha Nieminen, a sales manager in S Group’s grocery retail business. Kesko’s assortment manager Jaakko Nurmi says cottage cheese’s popularity may be explained by its high protein content, versatility and often low fat content.

Retail chains say social media trends have a clear effect on sales. S Group’s Nieminen says S-market stores sold more than 50 per cent more sauerkraut this year than during the same period last year.

Ussher follows and tries food trends, but says she does not understand the popularity of sauerkraut. Lidl’s Riikka Peltomäki says interest was strongest in spring, when sales at the chain doubled compared with the previous autumn. Demand has since eased somewhat, she says, but remains higher than before the trend took off.

Ussher raises concerns about thinness trends

Healthy foods have become more popular in Finland and across Europe, Peltomäki says. Ussher thinks several factors may be behind the trend, including social media videos, the growing number of people making them and a renewed focus on health. She also suggests that thinness may be more fashionable now than it was five years ago.

Ussher believes algorithms favour videos about healthy eating and perhaps those that idealise thinness. She is particularly concerned about children and young people who may not realise that watching such videos can lead to more of the same appearing in their feeds. They may then think that “things are just that way,” she says.

At the same time, Ussher says there is nothing wrong with healthy eating and that she is glad her work can inspire people to cook.