Sanjana Chawla, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: In today’s hyper-documented world, it often feels like moments do not exist unless they are posted online. No post, no proof – right? This digital reflex is perfectly embodied in the recent ‘Turmeric Magical Splash Trend‘, which has swept across social media like wildfire – with over a thousand videos shared in just two weeks.
It all began innocently enough. On June 16, 2025, a content creator named Liz Richards, using the Instagram handle @DailyOriginalVids, posted a video featuring his two children. He casually explained the experiment in the clip, “Use turmeric, water and a flashlight to create a fun and meteor shower-like effect in this simple science experiment for kids.”
The light filtered through the spice in a way that resembled the cosmic event.
What followed was explosive. That seemingly innocent post sparked a global wave. Almost instantly, science lovers, parents and content creators around the world rushed to recreate their own versions of the glittering turmeric cascade.
The ‘Turmeric Magical Splash’ was suddenly everywhere as a shimmering and harmless distraction that felt like light in dark times.
The process is simple – fill a glass with water, place it over a flashlight and sprinkle in turmeric. As the curcumin particles dance and diffuse in the water, they scatter light in mesmerising patterns – swirls of gold, suspended and luminous.
It was, at first glance, pure delight.
But far from the screens and smiles, in homes ravaged by war and hunger, the same turmeric holds a different weight. In Gaza, the spice is not glowing. It is absent. And the trend, now reimagined, has become something far more powerful than the creators of the original videos could have ever intended.
No Turmeric for the Gram in Gaza
Young Palestinians in Gaza, a place caught between the rhythms of survival and silence, are flipping a light-hearted trend into an urgent and emotional appeal for dignity, visibility and food.
With borders closed, aid restricted and homes crumbling, turmeric is no longer a spice. It is a symbol and a reminder of what they have lost and what they are still trying to hold on to.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has deepened into something unspeakable. Every one of the 2.1 million residents is now living with some level of food insecurity. And for nearly half a million of them, the threat of starvation is immediate and visceral.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus summed it up with clarity and warned the world, “Gaza is starving, sick and dying. Without immediate access to food and essential supplies, the situation will continue to deteriorate – causing more deaths and descent into famine.”
Nearly half a million people are already battling catastrophic hunger. Prices for even the most basic necessities have soared beyond reach. What might be a spoonful of turmeric in one part of the world is a month’s hope in Gaza.
A community activist from Gaza, Nour Talal Alnajjar (@nour_alnajjar96), in an Instagram post captures this reality in a single sentence, “I won’t be putting any salt or turmeric in water because here in Gaza a lot of people don’t have those things. Even flour, a basic human right, is out of our reach.”
She was not exaggerating. In Gaza today, many do not even have clean water to drink – let alone waste a glass of it for an online trend. Every drop matters. Every grain is counted.
Kareem (@lifewithkareem1) added another layer to this heartbreaking contrast. In his video, he explained how his mother has been longing to make “yellow rice” – a modest dish that calls for turmeric. But the rice itself is a dream now, unavailable because of the sealed borders and blocked aid. “If I used turmeric for this trend, my mother would beat and disown me,” Kareem said jokingly.
His words, though laced with humor, are weighed down by an unbearable truth. A spoon of spice in Gaza is a moment of joy and a thread of life, pulled tighter each day.
Can Turmeric Heal Gaza’s Wounds?
While temporary ceasefires flicker in and out, the suffering does not pause. And so, the youth of Gaza, wired into the same platforms as the rest of the world, have begun to respond in the only way left to them – turning the lens back on reality. Not with anger. But with art. With resistance. With sorrow.
As of July 4, 2025, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported a death toll of 57,130, with over 134,592 wounded. Each of those numbers is a face. A life. A loved one. A child who will not see tomorrow. A parent with no one left to protect.
These are not merely figures, they are funerals.
Reflect this, a young Palestinian, Yazan (@yazan.m2018) took the turmeric trend and reshaped it into something unforgettable. Instead of using turmeric, he dropped red dye into water – a reflection of blood. His video alternated between these red swirls and footage of Israeli airstrikes raining down on Gaza. The same shades of yellow and orange, only this time, not confined to a glass but lighting up the night sky with destruction.
His message was – you see beauty, but we see blood.
This movement, if it can be called that, is a cry from the margins and a desperate and artistic plea for empathy, recognition and help – not at all an attack on creativity or science or joy.
It shows how something as innocent as a trending video can carry two completely different meanings. While some see turmeric as a tool for wonder, others see it as something far more sacred and scarcer.
And this is what social media often forgets that behind the filters and fun, there are still real lives – waiting to be seen.
As our phones keep lighting up with trends that come and go in hours, the young people of Gaza are making sure their stories do not vanish in the scroll. Their digital cries are not for views. They are for survival. While turmeric may glow in a glass elsewhere, it cannot light up an empty stomach, a bombed-out home or a mother’s broken heart. While turmeric glows, it doesn’t for Gaza.