Behind These Food Vloggers’ Success Is a Jowa Ready to Eat, Drink + Hold a Phone Camera

(SPOT.ph) You see them on TikTok and Instagram, posting their takes on restaurants and eateries across the Metro. But more than being sources of recommendations, they've also become social media personalities—and in sharing their personal side they would bring along their romantic partners on their shorts and reels, giving their own insights via facial expressions. Granted, it's not always the case that both parties are into food, at least not at the onset, but this love for food is one that can get passed on as they get to know one another—and food thus becomes an indispensible part of their lives individually and together.

We talk to the couples behind three of our favorite accounts—Cy and Reg of The Bald Baker, Elaine and Jeremy of The Lovey Life, and Jow and RC of Jowwwjowwwww—about their stories with their significant others, and how food figures in their relationships today.

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Here are three food content creator couples and why they love food:

The Bald Baker’s Cy Ynares and Reg Lota

The man behind @thebaldbakerph is actual bald baker, Cy Ynares. He tries out all sorts of food and experiences on his TikTok and bakes superb (and fast-selling!) cookies, too. Once in a while, you’ll see his partner Reg downing tacos or even dancing with him.

Cy first met Reg at his first job as a fresh graduate, in an advertising agency where Reg was an art director. “I honestly had the biggest crush on him, but at that time he had a girlfriend, so [I thought] he was straight,” Cy says—but he had an inkling it wasn't the case. Some years after, now with a different agency, Cy found out Reg had come out—and as serendipity would have it, Cy's new boss happened to be Reg’s friend. “We just started hanging out after that… until naging kami na.” 

Individually, they've always been into food, though in different ways. In his youth, Reg was part of a group that would meet up and try new restaurants; Cy on the other hand says food has “always been the center of my family's life” growing up in the U.S. “We didn't have a lot of stuff, but we always had food—my dad made sure that there was always food on the table,” the baker-vlogger says, which means food his dad would cook or a meal they’d have at a restaurant. This love of food was passed on to Cy when he received his own toaster oven at nine years old. Many years later, he ventured into his own baking business.

Reg was a creature of habit, sticking only to “where he was comfortable,” but since partnering with Cy he is “more open to trying out more things." Cy, on the other hand, loves to try new things—”so when we got together, parang nag-clash kami, parang napilitan siya talaga to try out new restaurants, to order new stuff." Food has always played a big role in their relationship—it would be at restaurants or other meal settings that they would sit and talk and get to know each other, and they would celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries in the company of good food. Their tastes differ—Reg prefers his food on the saltier side (“he's your typical Filipino na gusto niyo madaming sauce, maalat, ang daming flavor lagi”) while Cy prefers flavors and seasonings delivered “more light-handed.”

As opposed to the more extroverted Cy, Reg doesn't like social media that much. “His account is very private. He rarely posts anything. And sometimes he gets really conscious when I post him on, on stories and videos," says Cy. "But, wala siyang magagawa eh. Ako boyfriend niya." Sometimes viewers leave comments asking for more of Reg. “He denies that people like him on social media, pero I tell him all the time that everyone that follows me loves him.” As of writing, the two have been together for fifteen years.

The Lovey Life’s Elaine and Jeremy

TikTok's @theloveylife shows Elaine and Jeremy sharing their dining and cooking escapades, with Elaine doing the narration. The account is as famous for her "Hey, frieeeeends" greeting, as for its takes on food that are as informative as they are relatable. Elaine and "Lovey" met in 2017 through a Dgroup (discipleship group—essentialy bible study groups of the CCF) that Elaine and Jeremy’s sibling were part of. Fun fact: they'd already been friends when they discovered they were neighbors all along!

Elaine had been single all her life and would dine solo at restaurants then post her meals on Instagram; Jeremy wasn’t particularly into food, and only developed an interest when they got together. “Wala siyang [mataas na] standards sa pagkain. Kahit saan, paulit-ulit lang kinakain niya, okay lang siya,” Elaine tells us. “Natuto lang siya about food when we started dating. Kasi syempre, yun yung lagi naming date—kakain sa labas, magdi-discover ng bagong restaurants.”

Now almost six years together (they got married in 2021) eating out is still what they look forward to doing. “So ‘pag may plano kaming date day, or ‘pag magwi-weekend, talagang naghahanap kami ng bagong cafe or restaurant na ita-try. We get excited about those places.” Dining out for the two isn’t just to fill their stomachs: “It's also an experience that we can share together… Saka it's a way for us to also bond, kapag may mga bagong pagkain or restaurants kami’ng natatry.” Their preferences differ—Elaine prefers savory eats, while Jeremy loves desserts. Elaine previously lived in Australia and therefore has stricter standards for Aussie eats like fish and chips. Jeremy, meanwhile, grew up eating Spanish fare frequently at home. Still, “‘pag undeniably good talaga ‘yung isang food, siyempre, masarap for both of us.”

As far as content creation goes, they “complement” each other, says Elaine. Her strength lies in the “creative” side of things—”like ‘yung shoot mismo, pagshu-shoot with my camera, ‘yung conceptualization, pag-edit, pag-gawa ng script, ako 'yun.” Jeremy’s forte, on the other hand, are the “technical, logistic, [operational]” aspects that might not be as visible from the viewers’ side but are important nevertheless. “Kunwari sa PC ko, siya nag-ayos no’n lahat from scratch. ‘Yung storage ko, siya rin namamahala no’n. ‘Yung mga problema ko sa mga computer ko, sa editing ko, sa files ko, siya ‘yung in charge do’n. Pati sa mga equipment ko… [phone, camera, and drone]... pinag-aaralan niya.” He would try to figure out how to get certain shots they were after, and take care of the driving—which leaves more time for Elaine to work on voiceovers. Plus, Jeremy cleans! "So hindi siya masyadong mapapansin, pero actually, he plays a big role in [our content].”

Jowwwjowwwww’s Jow and RC

Known for his opening line “another day, another food trip, guys, girls, and everyone in between!”, Jow is the main face and identity of TikTok account @jowwwjowwwww. But his partner RC—who appears on some of the videos—was the one who pushed for the TikTok account to happen. “[He] saw the potential in me in terms of… doing it full time, doing it as a food content creator,” Jow tells SPOT.ph. The two were Twitter mutuals who barely interacted with each other, but happened to match on Tinder one fateful day. 

Today, RC “works 24/7 as a full-time corporate employee, and full-time jowa,” Jow tells us. That is, while RC has a full-time job, he finds the time to help Jow in content creation, doubling as cameraman when he’s not eating on-cam with Jow. RC also helps filter the relevant collabs and partnerships to pursue and checks the videos before uploading. He also does the driving when they go out of town. 

The two have mostly very similar taste preferences but Jow says he can take “heavier, richer food”—think ramen, fried rice, or “heavily seasoned meat”—which RC would find salty or overpowering at times. You can see clear chemistry between the two especially where food is involved, whether they’re foodtripping in Seoul or feeding each other fried chicken in the comforts of their own home.

Five years in, the two are going strong—and Jow admits they've also gained weight since getting together. “But [we’re] currently active in helping each other control [our] appetite and cravings.”

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