Bottles of mead, tins of sardines and pouches of Zyn fill the kitchens of broke college students and Foggy Bottom residents alike as featured on “Fridge Files,” a viral social media show featuring the untamed kitchens of the D.C. region.
Seniors Alexa Asgharzadeh and Max Katz launched “Fridge Files” in September, a viral Instagram and TikTok series with over 19,000 followers across both platforms, where guests welcome viewers into their kitchens to discuss their unappealing and sometimes strange diets. Asgharzadeh, a finance and marketing analytics major, said the duo crafted the idea for “Fridge Files” to spark conversations about food and diets through a humorous but informational lens, platforming a topic they say students can relate to and laugh about.
“I’ve always had a really strong passion for food and nutrition, and it’s just been something I’ve independently looked into for most of my life and watched videos on,” Asgharzadeh said. “I always knew that if I were ever to make some sort of video, it’d be on this topic.”
Asgharzadeh said when creating “Fridge Files,” she and Katz workshopped how to make videos about people’s diets entertaining and funny while still being informative and offering a “social commentary” on D.C. residents’ everyday nutrition or the lack thereof. She said the pair search for series guests — a mix of self-submissions and those Asgharzadeh and Katz sought out — who have a strong character or unique lifestyle, like one subject whose excessive sports gambling dictated his food expenses for the week or another whose nicotine addiction meant Zyn for breakfast every day.
“You could probably see this in some of the videos, but it’s not necessarily about the actual food that’s in their fridge,” Asgharzadeh said. “It’s more just about how different parts of their life affect their diet.”
Asgharzadeh said dream guests she hopes to have on the show include local yuppie, corporate influencer Tony P. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, who she thinks would go “super viral.”
Katz, who studies economics and political communication, said “Fridge Files” is produced through Left-Middle-Right, a media company that creates videos intended to encourage dialogue with people across the political spectrum, which he helped start. Katz currently makes man-on-the-street style interview videos for the company, and he said he worked with 2022 GW alum Farid Adibi, the company’s founder, to launch the media company his first year at GW.
Katz said he and Adibi brainstormed “vertical series” ideas for Instagram, TikTok and Youtube Reels and wanted to involve Asgharzadeh in the series for her knowledge about nutrition, which is how “Fridge Files” was created.
“Part of the reason why we thought doing a food show would be a good idea is because Alexa does have things to say and the ability to critique guests we have on, so that’s a big part of her character,” Katz said.
Keegan Harvey, a senior forward on the men’s basketball team, sat down with two protein shakes and a takeout box full of carbs to discuss his daily 4,000 to 5,000 calorie intake featured on his “Fridge Files” episode, which aired in early December.
He said he has lived in South Hall since 2022, which has allowed him to create a “lived-in” vibe in his space and accumulate an array of odd food items, like the Core Power protein bars that live in his kitchen. One shot in the video showed a cabinet stacked with at least four tins of sardines, which Harvey said was his go to snack growing up in Australia.
“Sometimes I’ll open a cabinet, and I’ll be surprised what’s in there,” Harvey said.
Peter Liebman, a sophomore and self-proclaimed “gym bro” was featured on a November episode, where he broke down the allure of nicotine. He said Katz approached him about filming an episode to spotlight his fitness-focused diet and spotlight a gym junkie on the series.
While the video portrays Liebman’s daily consumption as being in a constant state of cutting, eating copious amounts of Halal Shack and using nicotine as a meal replacement, he said a large part of his actual diet was not included in the final cut. Liebman said he typically tries to maintain a balanced diet of protein, vegetables and carbohydrates but confessed that his meals may not always be the healthiest.
“I think it’s somewhat borderline eating disorder, but I don’t see it that way because it works for me, and it’s not an unhealthy relationship with food,” Liebman said.
Liebman’s episode starts off with a bang as he tells Alexa about his pre-workout ritual of taking a shot of “Lehenny,” LeBron James’ brand of Hennessy cognac. He later admitted that he does not show up to daily gym sessions at Lerner Health and Wellness Center with a buzz, and this part of the video was staged.
“Other than that, it was pretty much accurate,” Liebman said. “But no, I’m not taking shots before I lift.”
Senior Arnav Patel, an avid sports better, has the most popular “Fridge Files” episode, garnering over 1.9 million views on TikTok and 4.2 million views on Instagram. In his video, Patel says his meals are decided by his sports betting results that week and that a good week would mean more money to spend on both food and gambling.
Comments on Patel’s video range from poking fun at his diet, like “‘we eat a little better if the sports are good,’ bro is talking like a medieval peasant,” to concern toward Patel’s apparent gambling addiction, reading “poor guy 🙁 this is actually so sad.” Patel said while his diet is not as bad as the video made it seem, he would not recommend it to other people.
“There’s definitely a correlation between what’s in the fridge and what I’m eating to my gambling success,” Patel said. “But I wouldn’t say I necessarily have a problem.”
Annaliese Hearns, a line cook who lives in the District, said she messaged the “Fridge Files” account on TikTok in October after she watched some of their content. Hearns, who has a bagel-reviewing Instagram account said she told “Fridge Files” she wanted to showcase her bagel-obsessed personality on the show and only be referred to as “the bagel reviewer.”
Hearns wore a Bart Simpson “backwoods” outfit that she said her friend bought her to wear out to bars. She said she wore the look to make the video more interesting and possibly viral. In her video, Hearns talked about her typical diet, made up of mostly soup and bagels, as the camera panned to her three cans of Dr. Pepper in the trash.
Hearns, who previously worked at the Western Market Bullfrog Bagels every Sunday, said one time a student came in and asked her if she was on “Fridge Files” and that the student ended up being the friend of another guest who was featured on the show. She said other times students would just stare at her knowingly while waiting for their bagels.
“Sometimes, a student would look at me, and I would look at them, and it just felt like we both knew something,” Hearns said. “Like, ‘I don’t know, but I’m kind of feeling like you know me.’”
