When it comes to my personal social media habits, I have never posted on TikTok and remain a lurker on the platform, where neverending clips of “Star Wars,” vintage Todd Rundgren performances, hoagie hacks, sneak previews of upcoming LEGO releases, unsolicited dating advice, and cat content (so many cats…) lay claim to my For Your Page (FYP) — revealing more about my proclivities than I should probably share here!
One constant is the familiar voice of TikTok’s Trader Joe’s Talia, with her cheerful greeting of “Hey Trader Joe’s shoppers, it’s me Talia, back with more new and returning Trader Joe’s products…” which seems to play in an endless loop on my FYP as she fills up her cart and calls out the Trader Joe’s products that catch her eye, such as new yogurt flavors, scented candles, decorative succulent plants, frozen pretzel bread pudding with salted caramel sauce, and limited-edition seasonal offerings like pink, heart-shaped, ricotta-stuffed ravioli for Valentine’s Day. (And it was through Talia that I became aware of the results of Trader Joe’s 14th Annual Customer Choice Awards, where the supermarket’s Sparkling Honeycrisp Apple Juice took home top honors in the Beverage category.)
My original motivation for signing up to TikTok was for research purposes. And while I still haven’t unearthed a vibrant AmaroTok community, an Instagram DM from amaro enthusiast Neal Hirtzel alerted me to the existence of Pronto!, a new $10.99 amaro exclusive to Trader Joe’s, qualifying his message with, “It’s a little thin on the mouth
