This Is What Makes People Mad About Jessica Woo's Bento Box TikToks - Exclusive
Viral TikTok food creator Jessica Woo fills her kids' school lunch bento boxes with everything from shrimp Alfredo pasta to sushi to pancakes shaped like the characters from the kids' game "Among Us" — and there's always a handwritten note of love and encouragement. For the most part, the Internet responds to Woo's videos with love letters of its own in the comments section, along the lines of, "You're such an amazing mom" and "That looks so bomb" (via TikTok). But, unfortunately there can be some hate mail mixed in, too. For example, when Woo shared the wagyu steak topped with quail egg that she made for her daughter's birthday (seen here on the site), one commenter snarked back, "Who has time for that? Overachievers."
Woo also gets criticism for the nutritional value of what she packs — an intricately-cut cucumber with some fruit and rice in this post yielded the remark, "Maybe if you didn't spend so much time making lunch pretty you could provide them with a lunch that is well-balanced and filling."
Why the rage? In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Woo offered a theory: The people who get mad assume she's got too much time on her hands and is showing off — which the single mom of three said couldn't be further from the truth. "Last year, in 2020, when I was first getting big, there were a lot of moms that were like, 'She must be a stay-at-home mom, she must be a trophy mom. She doesn't do anything,'" Woo said. "Even what I pack — it's too small, it's too much food. There were a lot of opinions!" This is part of the gig of being a popular content creator, Woo added. "I think that just comes with the territory," she said. "I think once people ... stay and watch my videos and get to know me and my family — they know oh, she's not some rich, crazy person that does lunch all day just for content."
How Jessica Woo feels when people criticize her on TikTok
Some of the commentary Jessica Woo receives on TikTok can really get nasty. "I wouldn't even feed that to my dog," one person posted in response to Woo's pesto fried rice video. Does this vitriol crush her spirit, though? Nah. On the contrary, it gives her a few chuckles. "It's funny to me when I read these things," she said. "Because sometimes it's just so outlandish and I'm like, I don't know who these people think I am!"
Woo said that people who criticize the nutritional content of her kids' lunches need to realize that she's just a mom sharing her creative ideas — and is not offering health advice on what parents should be packing in school lunches. "I wasn't trying to be like, 'Oh, this is what everyone needs to do. This is the perfect portion or the healthiest meal.' No way! I'm definitely not a nutritionist," Woo stated. "I'm not encouraging people to have their kids eat only vegetables or [be] vegan or whatever it is. I'm just here to show you what I do, and what I love doing for my family." She added that other parents don't need to spend as much time as she does on lunches to make their kids feel special, either. "Kids enjoy really anything that you do, even if it's little," Woo said. "So you don't have to, obviously, go above and beyond or go do anything crazy. You don't have to spend hours and hours on lunch."
Follow Jessica Woo's amazing bento boxes on TikTok.