Food Tension

The sultry saxophone has been internet shorthand for exaggerated romantic tension for over a decade, a trope cemented by the sexy sax meme lineage and carried forward by newer seductive sax sounds on TikTok. This trend applies that musical wink to food, borrowing the "the tension between me and..." caption format that creators use to confess attraction to inanimate objects. Restaurants adopted it because it turns standard food b-roll into a joke with a point of view: the dish is so good it deserves a slow dance.