It was lovely to interview the TikTok sensation, best-selling author and social media star Eloise Head who is also known as FitWaffle.
Interview
Steve Legg (SL): Eloise, how lovely to see you. I can’t believe how thin you are, as you make such amazing cakes.
Eloise Head (EH): It’s all about balance and moderation. That’s my motto.
SL: I love that. So is it Eloise? Is it FitWaffle, is it Fit is it Waffs? What do I call you?
EH: I’ve never been called Waffs but I quite like it. My real name is Eloise, but many people call me FitWaffle. I created it about seven years ago when I first started my brand, and it has a few meanings. When I began, I was working as a personal trainer. So that’s one meaning of the ‘Fit’ part. But it also means fitting all foods into your diet. And then the ‘Waffle’ part also means waffling on because if you know me well, you know I tend to talk quite a lot. So it’s a combination of fitness and food and then fitting all sorts of foods into your diet and waffling on.
SL: Oh, I like it. I didn’t get that at all. I thought you were really into waffles. What are your favourite waffles?
EH: I do like waffles. I like a waffle with a bit of peanut butter on, some fruit or even just the straight-up maple syrup.
SL: So there you go. You heard it here first. Eloise, did you start cooking at school? We used to call it Home Economics back in my day. Is that where you first got into baking?
EH: Sorry, that’s what my mum used to call it too! I did do cooking at school. But it wasn’t very much. We did a little bit of what we called, Food Tech.
SL: Do you prefer more savoury or sweet? Because obviously, your cakes are very sweet.
EH: I prefer sweet; I have a real sweet tooth. I prefer making sweet food as well. I find it more fun, and the outcome’s always pretty and tasty.
SL: How do you keep fit?
EH: I go to the gym four to five times a week; I always have done really. I’ve always been active. I’m on my feet for most of the day. And I walk regularly as well. So I’m generally very busy, but I also have a balanced diet. So I don’t eat everything on my social media, you know, I don’t devour a whole tray of brownies or an entire cheesecake every day. But you know, I will have a slice of a brownie or cake almost daily alongside what I usually eat. So you know, fruits and vegetables and all the things that get my nutrients in simultaneously. It’s just balancing my energy input with my energy output.
SL: You describe yourself as a self-taught baker but isn’t baking very scientific and precise, right?
EH: Yeah, there’s a lot of trial and error with baking. You have to learn the basics when it comes to baking. And you have to do a bit of research along the way. With cooking, you can experiment and it will probably turn out okay. But with baking, you do have to learn, so you have to start by following other recipes, find out why it works, you know, and do a bit of research if it goes wrong as to why it didn’t work. And then from there, you can progress, and with that knowledge, you can start creating your own creations.
SL: Your social media stats are pretty breathtaking. Four billion views across social media in 2022. The most followed foodie female on social media with an impressive 10.3 million followers across social platforms. The only UK Food creator with 100 million views on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Everyone’s heard of you, the sixth most viewed UK video on Tiktok in 2022 and the top viewed food TikTok account in the UK. How does that happen? That doesn’t happen by mistake, does it?
EH: I know it sounds crazy when you read it back .Yeah, that’s all correct. You know what? I don’t even know. I love creating content. And obviously, I must be quite good at it because people like watching my videos. And the more I do it, the better it gets. You know, I wasn’t always good at it. When I’ve looked back at my original pictures, they’re hilarious. And even my videos, when I started making recipe videos at the beginning of the lockdown. I cringe when I hear them back because my voiceovers are so slow, and everything’s so poorly put together. So I’ve improved over the past three years I’ve been creating videos. And it’s something I’ve been doing almost every day, editing and all of that sort of stuff, literally for the past two and a half years. So it’s knowing your audience, and it’s getting better and better every time.
Footnote: You can listen to the rest of this conversation with Eloise on my weekly radio show The Big Lunch on Konnect Radio : Catch Up
Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Eloise Head on Twitter
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