Carrot Dip and Storytelling: Nasim Lahbichi’s Meteoric Social Media Rise 

In a Brooklyn church in 2001, a bright-eyed baby was being passed around from congregant to congregant. In each arm, he ate a spoonful of rice and beans, a smile covering his chubby face. Flash forward 21 years and that gourmand baby, Nasim Lahbichi, works as a professional food content creator with over 800,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. 

“I literally grew up with food from around the world being fed to me year-round,” Lahbichi said. “I think that really aided in my love for food.” 

Nasim’s mother, Irene Ramos-Lahbichi, said her son, as a child, was always eating and asking to cook. By 4 years old, Lahbichi learned to make scrambled eggs and meatballs.

“He didn’t want to make regular brown meatballs. He wanted shapes,” Ramos-Lahbichi added. 

Despite his passion for cooking, Lahbichi never anticipated becoming a food content creator until COVID hit and he lost his postgraduate interior design internship. Lacking a creative outlet, Lahbichi turned to cooking more.

“His need to create was like somebody screaming inside of you, but you couldn’t get out,” Ramos-Lahbichi expressed. “The way he got his frustration out by posting to Instagram.” 

By June 2021, Lahb Co. Eats, Lahbichi’s food brand, acquired over 500,000 social media followers and celebrity endorsements from Lizzo and Drew Barrymore. 

Ava Mandoli, a Northwestern University freshman, is one of Lahbichi’s followers. She has been following Lahbichi’s social media accounts for nearly two years, inspired by his friendliness and cooking video voiceovers where he reminisces about life.

“I really enjoy hearing his stories and the memories other people have of food,” Mandoli said. 

Mandoli also values Lahbichi’s cross-cultural approach to cooking, noting recipes such as his pasta lathered in za’atar broccoli sauce and sweet potato miso risotto. 

Lahbichi’s best friend from college, Kerby Kanaly, remarked on his profound ability to apply his Moroccan and Puerto Rican heritage to creating recipes. “I feel like everything he's done has always focused on incorporating multiple cultures or finding inspiration from other cultures, whether it be from design or from the foods that he cooks,” Kanaly said. 

Yet, Lahbichi wants his brand to embody more than tasty food; he also aspires to spark social change and mitigate food deserts.

“It’s hard to talk about food and the abundance of food and how fun it is to cook when you know deep down that many people are going to sleep without food in their bellies,” Lahbichi said. 

Lahbichi only works with brands that give a portion of his compensation to charitable causes, such as East New York Farms. “It shows that as he grows, he doesn't just leave everybody behind,” said Ramos-Lahbichi. “When you throw a pebble in the water, the ripples continue.” 

Where is Lahbichi headed next? He doesn't know, but he has a few ideas.

“Social media is not a long game for me,” Lahbichi shared. “Honestly, when I have children, I might dabble with the queer daddy blogger thing because it might be fun.” 

Other ideas include launching a restaurant chain or a travel video series. Ultimately, no matter where life takes Lahbichi, he will stay true to one quality: storytelling through food.

“I am grateful that I get to use food as a means to tell stories of my own and the experiences of others,” Lahbichi concluded.

Story reported in my college reporting and writing class