Salt Bae

Origin

Salt Bae is the nickname of Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, owner of the Nusr-Et steakhouse chain, and the meme of imitating the way he sprinkles salt: an exaggerated flick of the wrist that sends salt from his fingertips rolling down his forearm onto the meat.

Gökçe was born in 1983 in Erzurum Province, Turkey, left school around the age of eleven or twelve and apprenticed at a butcher shop in Istanbul's Kadıköy district. From 2007 to 2010 he worked unpaid in restaurants in Argentina and the United States to learn the trade, and in 2010 he opened his first restaurant in Istanbul. The name Nusr-Et combines his name with et, the Turkish word for meat. The turning point was an Instagram video titled "Ottoman steak" posted on January 7, 2017. Showing him carving a steak and sprinkling salt over his forearm, it passed 2.4 million views and 8,700 comments within 48 hours, and the Instagram post went on to more than 16 million views.

Spread

The nickname began the same day, when Twitter user @lolalissaa reposted the video with "so this is #saltbae" (bae being internet slang for a sweetheart or favorite). Parodies poured in over the next two days. @elBeardedBandit turned a screenshot of the salt sprinkle into a "You vs. The Guy" image macro that drew 48,000 likes and 33,000 retweets; on January 8 came an illustration of Gökçe and a #GritsBae parody video, and on January 9 a fairy bread version with rainbow sprinkles. The Verge, The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News and TIME all covered it within the month.

The meme's popularity soon translated into business growth. After Turkey and Dubai (2014), Nusr-Et expanded to New York, Miami, London and beyond, and as of 2021 also operated in Greece, Italy, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Controversies

Fame brought scrutiny. In September 2018 he was criticized by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio after footage emerged of him serving steak to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro amid the country's economic crisis. That year his New York restaurant was panned for prices out of line with the food, and in November 2019 he settled a tip-theft lawsuit from four former employees for $230,000. Right after the December 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, he went onto the field, handled the trophy and inserted himself into the Argentine players' celebrations, prompting a FIFA investigation and a ban from the following year's U.S. Open Cup final. In September 2024 it was reported that revenue at his London restaurant had fallen from £13.6 million to £9.3 million.

Usage

• Miming the salt flick when adding a showy finishing touch to something
• "You vs. The Guy" comparisons showing someone doing an ordinary task with excessive flair
• A reaction image mocking over-the-top showing off

Sources

• Know Your Meme, "Salt Bae" — the January 7, 2017 "Ottoman steak" video and its 48-hour figures, @lolalissaa's #saltbae tweet, derivative images and parody accounts from January 7–9 with figures, January press coverage, the 2018 Maduro controversy, the 2022 World Cup final controversy and U.S. Open Cup ban
• Wikipedia, "Salt Bae" — birth, butcher apprenticeship and unpaid training abroad, first restaurant in 2010 and the Nusr-Et name, 16 million Instagram views, countries as of 2021, 2018 New York reviews, 2019 tip lawsuit settlement, FIFA investigation, 2024 London revenue