It’s not often that I get to trumpet my home town as a foodie mecca. But this past week, I’ve been blessed with the chance to headline Ottawa native, Instagrammer, TikToker and YouTuber Logan Moffitt – known internationally as… Cucumber Boy!
Logan Moffitt – Cucumber Boy – in clips from one of his viral videos…
Self-serialized
“Sometimes you need to eat an entire cucumber.”
That’s the verbal scene-setter the 23-year-old foodie uses to kick off of each of a series of videos he’s posted on cucumber salad recipes. And folks have gone nuts for them. He has 5 million followers on TikTok, alone.
Moffitt is a devotee of Asian food, and specializes in Korean cuisine. But his Cucumber Salads (CS) span the globe.
There’s a formula
Moffitt has a sort of formula for his CS posts. He slices up an entire English Cucumber, places it in a plastic fridge container, and adds dressing. Then he affixes the lid and shakes.
Each post culminates in a taste test, during which he shares his honest opinion on the creation. You have to give him credit for his veracity and objectivity: He’s not shy about telling you when one of his recipes has proven unsuccessful.
Local support
I have followed the Ottawa Citizen‘s food writer emeritus, Peter Hum, for decades. And I almost al-ways agree with his reviews and recipe suggestions. (Maybe that’s why I’ve been such a faithful follower…)
Anyway. Like me, Hum just recently became aware of Moffitt – in spite of Cucumber Boy’s viral fame. Last week, he visited Moffitt at his west-end home to taste the nouveau-legendary CSs himself, direct from the maestro’s hand.
“With a razor-sharp mandolin, he sliced the long, green fruit into thin discs that fell straight into a plastic, see-through takeout container,” Hum recounts. “Then, without going to the trouble of mea-suring, he tossed in peanut butter, soy sauce, a grated garlic clove, chili crunch, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and, ‘MSG, obviously’.”
Of course, MSG. Asian cooks have relied on the stuff for generations to boost the flavour of their often subtle dishes. And recent scientific findings have absolved MSG of its one-time reputation as ‘unhealthy and even ‘allergenic’.
The verdict
Hum admits he was impressed – both by Cucumber Boy’s virtuosity in the kitchen and the magic of his food.
“His salad wasn’t high-concept or sophisticated or even that surprising. Nor was it meant to be. Moffitt simply proved, as he has in other videos, that extremely simple, extremely quick-to-make food involving a single fresh ingredient or two and a fridge well-stocked with condiments can be extremely satisfying.”
You also get the distinct impression that Hum (a contemporary of mine) is impressed that a 20-something is so interested in cooking, as well as so good at it.
Cucumber season
Moffitt’s soaring notariety comes at an opportune time for folks where cucumbers are part of the local veggie panorama. Here, in late summer, we often see them in company with sweet corn, root veggies and tomatoes at roadside stands and farmer’s market stalls.
Many of us grow them in our own gardens. One reason I did, in years gone by (when I had many more mouths to feed) was that they are pretty much grow themselves. And they never disappoint. In fact, they almost always deliver a bumper crop. As a result, I came to know exactly how many surplus cu-cumbers each of my neighbours would gladly accept every season. I wish I’d had copies of Moffitt’s recipes to include with my cucumber ‘gift baskets’. I would probably have been able to get rid of even more!
Many of Cucumber Boy’s CSs appeal to me. And I know, just from reading the ingredient list, that his peanut dressing will become a member of my go-to recipe collection. It ticks all my Asian boxes: Korean, Satay, Chili Peppers, Sesame Seeds, Garlic…
My take
I grew up with cucumber salads, classic cucumber sandwiches in the ‘Victorian Tea’ style (courtesy of my grandmother’s strict upbringing), every-day salted-and-peppered cuke slices splashed with malt vinegar, and cukes sliced or cubed in just about any tossed salad Mom threw together.
I never under-stood why some people didn’t care for cucumbers. If you’re one of them, I suggest you look up Cucumber Boy’s recipes. They just might change tour mind!
I, for one, am anxious to try all his CS salads. At least, the ones he, himself, declared successful…
~ Maggie J.