# Salt Bae

> A steak-salting video approached 17 million Instagram views and became a copied gesture.

- Owner: Nusret Gökçe / Nusr-Et
- Kind: Creator moment
- Sector: Food & beverage
- Seed date: 2017-01-07
- Peak date: 2017-02-18
- Spread Score: 49 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Response chain, Maker origin, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Gökçe posted a steak-salting video. Twitter users named him Salt Bae and copied the gesture; athletes and artists followed. Celebrity visits supplied more posts, while Nusr-Et expanded to the US and London.

## Timeline

- 2017-01-07 — @nusr_et (Instagram) — Gökçe posted Ottoman steak, carving meat and finishing with salt falling from his fingertips over his forearm.
- 2017-01-07 — @lolalissaa (X) — @lolalissaa reposted the steak video with the caption “so this is #saltbae.”
- 2017-01-08 — Bruno Mars (X) — Bruno Mars tweeted a still of Gökçe with the caption “Annndddd I’m out.”

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/salt-bae

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Salt Bae.” Case HIS-00489. Spread Score v1.2: 49/100. Updated 2026-10-14. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00489