Hello World :)
Halo! Welcome to Kepayang - a personal blog/newsletter where I share my contemplative, unfiltered, and spontaneous take on food, sustainability, and culture. I can promise you (like always) that I won’t abandon this project after two weeks of writing two posts, and that’s because I got to be a full-time content creator for a living now. Yeehaw.
I started my content-creating journey with two of my very best friends. At that time, YouTube was still a thing. Attention span was also a thing back in the day. Not much, but people can still handle a 15-minute video of me showing off my thrift haul and rereading my old tweets. I love how this era was driven by the teen spirit of creating content just for the sole reason of sharing and having fun.
Unfortunately, as you might know, TikTok came and decided to WRECK our ability to sit down and watch through even a 2-minute video. This shifted not only our preference for the type of content we consume but creators like me also needed to make everything bite-sized. For lack of a better word, I needed to reduce my thoughts and opinions into one single clickbait line that (1) sounded more big, important, and controversial than what it actually is, and (2) is able to be picked up by the so-called algorithm.
Annoying huh? But guess what? I’m also on TikTok now lol.
In 2022, I decided to quit my job and start my own TikTok account. A part of me knew that creating content was something that I always wanted to do - especially for a living. Yet, another part of me felt that this was such a silly and goofy decision. What am I gonna do? Dance to FIFTYFIFTY?
I was afraid at first. Afraid of not being consistent, of having slow growth, and most importantly of not being able to make a living out of it. But honestly, I was fortunate enough that I already knew my niche and knew how to actually use Adobe PremierePro (duh, I was a proper YouTuber back then). So it was a rather smooth journey for me to eventually reach 20,000 followers in a year and land partnership deals with 20+ local businesses to produce sponsored content. It’s fun, and games, and a lot of strategizing and trend-analyzing.
TikTok is still a decent platform to express yourself. Except for the algorithm bit.
As I said earlier, the algorithm pretty much decides how well your TikTok video is going to perform. It’s so wild and unpredictable that your super polished video with a well-written script could get 200 views even after several weeks, while the more spontaneous and unhinged video could easily lend you 300,000 views in a day.
The way the algorithm works sometimes makes me feel lost and unmotivated - and it’s a three-stage kind of thing. First, it sucks to see the content that I’ve spent hours filming and editing getting fewer views than I expected. Second, it became irresistible for me to lessen the amount of energy I put into creating content to balance it with the rewards (that is the number of views, likes, and comments) that I’m getting. Third, realizing that I have this very capitalist way of thinking is making me even sadder.
This is where Kepayang enters the chat.
Kepayang is pangium edule - a native Southeast Asian fruit that is used a lot in Indonesian cuisines and is a pantry staple in the Jawa Timur region where my family is from. It is known for being poisonous and intoxicating when eaten fresh, hence the reason why Indonesians tend to ferment, soak, or boil the fruit first to get rid of its cyanide content. There’s even a popular term of ‘mabuk kepayang’, which essentially means that you are drunk.
Just like kepayang, social media is great when you have full control of how you want to consume it. A few minute’s scrolls of Instagram would get you inspired, while a few hours will probably just give you fake news and the impostor syndrome for not getting out of bed the entire morning.
I started Kepayang for three reasons:
To beat the algorithm: A personal blog slash newsletter will help me in beating the algorithm by not actually beating it LOL (I’m fragile and petite). Having my own platform and sending content directly to your email means that I’m in full control of how I deliver my content.
To actually be free to say things: Imagine being able to tell a story in a chronological way without thinking whether or not the first sentence is clickbaity enough. Imagine being able to form an argument without thinking whether or not it will spark a viral discussion. Imagine being able to talk about even the most mundane topic that matters to you and just be. Just vibes.
To have a more intimate connection with you: Aww. But no, seriously. You saw this post, you clicked on it, you read it, and heck maybe you’ll subscribe to Kepayang eventually. You did all of that consciously, gave your energy, and permission for me to reach out to you. That shit’s intimate.
Kepayang is a platform for me to tell stories and share opinions without having to give a fuck on the engagement rate and how much rupiah I’m getting. I’m tired of being defined by numbers, and here’s a middle finger to all the content-creating shenanigans that we’ve been through these past few years.
But also, Kepayang is for all of us. The goal is to build a food-enthusiast community with a high level of consciousness that food is more than just sustenance. Food is a medium to tell stories, to spark discussion, to share love, to assert power.
So, what’s on the menu?
You can expect discussions on dining cultures, agriculture issues, new trend alerts, stories from food practitioners, current obsessions, to essays on unspoken rules that surround us when it comes to actually eating food. Occasionally, I will also commission fellow artists and writers to contribute to this platform.
DO NOT expect a recipe here. You can go to my TikTok for that.
Bonus point: In an effort to shed more light on Indonesian representation, I’ll make sure that all of the written pieces are either (1) rooted in actual issues/trends that are happening in Indonesia or (2) answer the question of: what does that mean for a regular Budi / Siti of Indonesia (that’s our version of James and Jane).
I’ll be sending one written piece every two weeks sent directly to your email every Monday. Maybe Monday morning so you actually have something to look forward to instead of working lol.
My first piece will talk about the five-minute rule. Why does it take five minutes instead of five seconds for Indonesian bacteria to get to a dropped food? Why do we still follow this clearly inaccurate and non-scientific rule? Is it maybe just human nature to want to hear what we want to hear? Or are we just so accustomed to traditions to the point where we resist facts and changes? More on this next week!
Follow me everywhere:
TikTok: @berusahavegan
Kepayang’s Instagram: @readkepayang
Personal Instagram: @menggemaskan
LinkedIn: Chalafabia Haris
Work with me: readkepayang@gmail.com