Two friends living in New York City decided they wanted to eat their way around the world without ever leaving the city. Instead of booking flights, they hunted for restaurants and filmed the entire thing for TikTok.
The project lives on TikTok under the username @tastebuds_nyc. It kicked off in November, with the first video posted on Nov 20, 2025. With 195 countries to cover, this project will take them nearly four years to complete.
Exploring the world's cuisines without ever leaving NYC
They explain their plan at the beginning of every video, complete with stick figure drawings explaining their goal. "My friend and I had an idea one day to try the food from every country in the world, only in New York City," one of the guys said in the intro.
"Every week, we're gonna spin a wheel, land on a random country, and then go find their food somewhere in New York City."
The idea isn't completely a new one: in 2010, Charles Bibilos documented a similar mission on his blog, United Nations of Food, reaching 156 cuisines by his last blog post (Rwanda) in 2017. However, the TikTok video format gave this version a different energy.
While the idea is simple, some spins proved harder than others, such as when the wheel landed on Bhutan. After some digging, they found the only Bhutanese restaurant in NYC: The Weekender.
The video showed more than just plates of food and two white guys eating outside of their comfort zone. Instead, it captured conversations with the restaurant’s owners, who sat nearby and happily talked while the pair ate. Meanwhile, the camera rolled as they tried butter tea, dried meats, momo, and fiery chilies.
"The fire is gonna come out of your mouth," the owner joked with one of them after giving him a pure pepper to try to eat. The friend joked that he wasn't crying from the heat of the pepper; it was just his allergies.
The owners were fascinated by the guys' idea, and they quickly opened up to one another. The four eventually shared a table together, and the owner even taught them how to play snooker.
"In my previous life, I must have met you guys," the owner told them. "We must have been a family. Or brothers."
By the end, the friends were fully sold. “This has been one of the coolest experiences of my life,” one said. "They invited us to their New Year's Eve party with their friends and family."
Social media pushed the series far beyond food reviews
After the Bhutan episode dropped, the account exploded. The video pulled more than 5 million views and was shared across social media platforms. Then viewers started sharing emotional reactions across platforms.
Online reactions poured in. "These two dudes are trying food from every country without leaving NYC," wrote @PhilaBCoulter. "If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible."
Others noticed real-world effects. "They said in their Tajikistan episode this week that this Bhutan restaurant is seeing increased traffic since their vid dropped," tweeted @jack_dayto.
So far, the friends have only gone through 10 countries, including Armenia, Hungary, and Morocco. Even so, viewers loved the small details, like stick-figure drawings labeling each restaurant owner as "our new friend."
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