About

It's a Chicken Salad / From 81st Deli is a catchphrase from a viral video of a woman eating a chicken salad from a deli on 81st street in Cleveland, Ohio. The video was first posted to the 81st Street Deli's official TikTok in August 2022, before going viral in October, with people commenting on the woman's delivery of the line "It's a chicken salad," and admiring her cadence and facial expressions. The sound was also subsequently used in lip-dub skits by TikTokers.

Origin

On August 8th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @81stdeli posted their first TikTok video, featuring a person showing a chicken salad and saying, "Now that's how you make a chicken salad, at East 81st Deli." The post gathered just 15 likes and two comments in nearly three months (seen below, left). On August 28th, the account posted a video^[2] of a woman eating a chicken salad saying, "Y'all better come up here and get one of these. It's a chicken salad. East 81st deli. It's superior." The video gathered over 7 million plays and 1.2 million likes in two months (seen below, right).

Spread

The video did not start going viral until two months after it was uploaded, with several Black content creators noting how the video filled their "For You Page" despite having total video views below a thousand. For example, on October 15th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @quaygottfanz posted a video stitching the original clip, commenting on how good the woman makes the salad sound. His video gathered over 400,000 plays and 80,000 likes in nearly 15 days since upload (seen below, left). On October 20th, TikToker^[4] @mrsmycah posted a video about the audio only having 600 videos under it, despite it being all over her "For You Page." Her upload gathered over 300,000 plays and 60,000 likes in four days (seen below, right).

On October 19th, 2022, TikToker^[5] @leoshawty333 then posted a video using the sound and mimicking the woman's expressions. The post gathered over 300,000 plays and 50,000 likes in five days (seen below, left). On October 20th, TikToker^[6] @realgangsta6 posted a video commenting on how the woman sounds "desirable and feminine," in reference to a comment someone made about her on the original video. The upload gathered over 300,000 plays and 80,000 likes in four days (seen below, right).

Lizzo's Lip Dub

On October 21st, 2022, Lizzo's official TikTok^[7] account posted a video of the singer eating a sandwich and using the audio from 81st Deli's original video. The post gathered over 1 million plays and 100,000 likes in nearly three days (seen below). Also on October 21st, the woman featured in the viral video dueted^[8] Lizzo, gathering over 2 million plays and 400,000 likes in nearly three days (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References