Every family has a special dish that they make when family comes together, to celebrate a holiday, birthday or other significant occasion. Cooking is a universal expression of love, with recipes often passed down through generations. But, as life evolves, these shared experiences become fewer, and could one day be lost. #MadeWithLove, is an intergenerational social movement, designed to shine a light on cherished family recipes and the stories behind them.

Joining forces with TikTok is renowned Australian Food Historian Lauren Samuelsson. "The Australian food landscape is a vibrant multicultural melting pot, where iconic dishes are shaped by our rich history of migration. In addition to heritage, your most loved dish also depends on where you live in Australia. But, sadly, without proper preservation, these unique dishes and the foods themselves are at risk of disappearing."

#MadeWithLove encourages the enormous, global #FoodTok community, to cook alongside older family members, sharing not only the recipes but the stories behind them.

From all parts of the culinary globe, TikTok has enlisted much-loved creators, like Martha Kalifatidis, MyNonnaFina, Raukura Huata, SosoChrissy and HiMyNameisPriya, to help showcase the diversity of the Australian and New Zealand food culture, from Martha's Yiayia's delicious lentil soup to MyNonnaFina sharing her much loved traditional apple fritters.

"TikTok’s #MadeWithLove campaign is a powerful way for the community to connect across generations, as they share their cherished recipes and stories. Whether it’s a grandmother’s special dish or a father’s signature spice mix, these recipes carry love, history, and identity, and we’re proud to provide a platform where they can live on. Food is universal and the FoodTok community, globally, is one of our biggest. As always, our creators are the secret sauce to this campaign and food historian, Lauren Samuelsson, has helped us uncover the rich layers of Australia and New Zealand food culture." Simon Bates, Head of Content for TikTok Australia and New Zealand.

The #MadeWithLove Creators who are taking part in this movement include:

When asked about her involvement, Fatimah said, "Sharing my culture through food is important to me because I want people to experience a taste of my upbringing and traditions. I was excited to be part of TikTok's #MadeWithLove campaign as I was able to honor my mother's heritage and remind others to hold on to their parents' and grandparents' recipes, stories, and the love that connects us across generations."

  • Sydney's viral twins and ARIA-nominated artists, Jordan and Brandon, stole Australia's hearts by forming an unlikely friendship with 7-year-old neighbour Harper, whose playful interactions with the twins have garnered millions of views on TikTok. Their bake off went viral on their account, with Harper kicking it off by sharing her cheesecake, and they have now shared their Nan's delicious recipe.
  • Marcus Costanzo, a former My Kitchen Rules contestant alongside his mum, has always embraced food as a family affair, with his nonna's green pasta holding a special place in his heart.
@marcus.costanzo Nonna’s Green Pasta (Forever)!🥹❤️ Full Recipe Below 🧑‍🍳⬇️ @TikTok Australia Pasta Dough Ingredients 📝 - Whole Bunch of Long stem Spinach (not baby spinach), - 3 Eggs, - 285 grams Flour, - 165 grams Semolina Flour, - Additional flour depending on consistency of dough + for kneading & rolling. Sauce Ingredients 📝 - 80 grams Salted Butter, - Pasta Water, to preference, - Generous drizzle Olive Oil, - Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Method 🧑‍🍳 1. Boil Spinach in salted water until soft. Then squeeze liquid out of leaves with a sieve & wooden spoon. 2. Once the spinach has cooled more, squeeze the rest by hand. Note, the wetter you leave the spinach - the worse your dough will be, so SQUEEZE!! 💪 3. In a metal bowl, stick blend the spinach until it is very fine. Then add your eggs to the mix and combine by whisking. 4. Bit by bit, begin combining your flour with the wet mix - mixing constantly to ensure minimal clumps. 6. Then, once a harder dough ball forms - begin kneading it as much as possible until it becomes silky / elastic in feeling. 7. KEY NOTE: Continue sprinkling additional flour over the dough if it remains too wet 💡 9. Cover in cling wrap or a tea towell and allow dough to rest for 30 mins. 11. Once the dough is rested, cut it up into even portions and begin rolling sheets through the pasta machine. Increase thinness until the sheet is at your desired level. 12. Next, roll your sheets through the pasta cutter to achieve the fettucine shape. 14. Boil the fresh pasta (2-3 minutes) in salted water, then remove from heat and strain pasta. Ensure to keep some of the pasta water. 15. Next, add a knub of salted butter to your now empty pasta pan and swirl it around the pan till it melts. 16. Add your cooked pasta back into the pan and begin mixing the butter through, all while adding pasta water bit by bit as you mix. Once the butter has emulsified, mix through a lick of high-quality olive oil. 18. Serve pasta and top with grated parmesan cheese. #MadeWithLove #pasta #pastalovers #pastarecipe #italianfood #foodcreator #familyrecipe ♬ original sound - Marcus Costanzo
  • Known for her LIVE TikTok cooking show Mob Feed Mondays, Indigenous creator sosoChrissy shares delicious and easy recipes that are inspired by her family and culture.
  • Maggie Zhou, uses her TikTok to showcase Melbourne's vibrant cultural scene—and her fabulous outfits. Yet, the culture closest to Maggie's heart is that of her ancestors. She is currently reigniting her cultural identity by cooking traditional recipes with her mum.

Australian Food Historian, Lauren Samuelsson states, "We can all take part in helping to protect our culinary skills and social practices by learning more about our food culture and its past, and helping to bring it into the future. Our family recipes are more than just meals, they are a reflection of our history, our stories, and the labour of past generations. By preserving these traditions, we not only honour the work of those before us but we can ensure that these flavours, ingredients and stories continue to live on."

An organisation that understands the need to preserve our family recipes, and has given our campaign the tick of approval is the Country Women's Association of NSW. “The CWA of NSW was founded more than a century ago on a platform of advocacy for rural and regional NSW communities, but in uniting women from so many different backgrounds, members also found common interests, like cooking, that helped fuel friendships and strengthen community bonds,” said CWA of NSW President Joy Beames. 

And that’s what cooking and great recipes have always done, and continue to do: bring families and friends together in both the happiest and most challenging of times. Through social media channels like TikTok, there are now even more ways to pass on classic dishes and keep them alive and relevant for new generations of cooks. The #MadeWithLove campaign is another important way we can share our passion for food and the recipes we cherish most."

@raukurahuata Kia ora e te whānau, I was invited by TikTok to join the "Made with Love" campaign demonstrating the power that kai holds in connecting people to people, people to place, and people to past by sharing an "heirloom recipe." As a staunch Kahuninja, pāua is a heritage food of mine that I've chosen to hero. There are tonnes of creamed pāua recipes out there, and they all share the same basic ingredients: pāua, sautéed onions, and cream, with slight variations in the seasonings - including the pewa, or the sack! Creamed pāua is simple, yet creamy and carries the rich complexities of the ocean. My big nephew, Te Aaio, always ensures my freezer has pāua (and other ocean and bush goods) for when his kuia fancies it. His māmā is my tuakana, and features in this clip. I'm stoked to be a part of this campaign and I wanna send a massive mihi to TikTok for giving me the opportunity to share our incredible cuisine with the world, especially right now as we're in the thick of our Mahuru Māori celebrations. #FYP #Māori #MadeWithLove #Ad @tiktok_nz ♬ Mozart Minuet with violin(815356) - 松本一策

To find a new recipe or to share your own, visit #MadeWithLove.