A humble idea to a grand storm waiting in our trending lists, what on earth on mukbangs? Where did they come from? How are they so popular? There are several questions that come from this one word, as well as several tastes of our favorite comfort foods that become binging material for content creators. Enjoy and try not to get too hungry!
Disclaimer; This is my first writing piece on the subject of mukbangs for this writing forum! Do understand that I just found this topic very interesting and wanted to have written about it. There is no ill intention towards anyone mentioned in this and I did use sources to research my topic more in-depth.
Part 1; Rather Hungry?
Mukbangs have become a growing trend across the world and thousands of viewers watch mukbang videos which contribute to the fast growth of this new genre. On Youtube, there are hundreds of mukbang videos that range from small homemade meals to fast food banquets to food challenges. Mukbangers, those who produce these videos, have been fuelling the hunger of the viewers who watch this new genre with an intense attraction to seeing people eat and talk a little. Why has this genre of videos become so popular and inevitable in our Youtube recommendations? Where did these mukbangs come from? Why is some random man who is eating Wendy’s crying over random things in a video?
This new genre has left me rather intrigued by how massive the following is for them because mukbangs are videos of normal people doing what they normally do; eat something and talk. Could this be linked to the dying company of eating meals with loved ones or signs of how gluttony can be more powerful than we think? Let’s dive into this and find out.
Where Are ‘Mukbangs’ From?
Mukbangs tend to have a rather bizarre track record when it comes to pronouncing the word as well as the meaning of the word. Mixed results of how to pronounce the word have appeared in my research, so I will keep this short and sweet with how to pronounce it later on in this section.
Mukbangs originated in Korea (South Korea, to be exact) and surfaced in popularity in 2011. The word Mukbang means “eating” (“meok or “muk”, but another saying, “mukja” means “let’s eat”) and “broadcast” (“bang song”). Mukbangs are eating podcasts that have a host (Or more, depends) which is called a “Broadcasting Jockeys” in Korea but simply termed “Mukbangers” in western countries.
Afreeca TV (South Korea-based live-streaming service) and Twitch allowed this new genre of videos to flourish, creating several personalities that took advantage of this growing trend in Korea. With the growing amount of people interested and social media platforms just fueling this wildfire, the mukbang trend hopped across the pond to the United States of America as well as to other countries. Mukbangs have grown to a massive following of millions of people engaging in the activity or watching others do the activity.
The popularity increased since, but once the United States of America had a taste of the sweet mukbang trend; oh boy, won’t this be a trip?
What Is A Mukbang?
Mukbangs are when the host of the video or live stream binge eats large quantities of food and talk (Or not) as people watch. Any cuisine can be eaten during this, whether it be a live octopus or some ice cream or a regular dinner. During live streams, viewers can ask questions and give donations to their favorite mukbangers. The mukbanger, in return, will answer the questions or listen to requests of what cuisine to eat next when donated to. Mukbangs sound amazing! Eating and talking to make a quick buck off of it, I already eat and talk just to be alive and social!
But, the process of creating a mukbang is not as easy.
Mukbangs videos (Not live streams) take hours to produce as well a camera will be required. You have to go to the grocery store so you have food to cook for the mukbang. The presentation will be set up by the mukbanger, maybe a nice plate for the food with a clean room to use. Some mukbangers dress up the room they are using to shoot the room as a theme. Filming follows when the mukbang is happening then cleaning right after. Some mukbangers order food from restaurants to make this process easier on them.
Live-streamed mukbangs are the same way minus editing. Even with the heavy creation process, mukbangs are highly profitable and equally popular. Mukbangs are popular and profitable because of ASMR and other reasons (Will be stated in Part 2 and Part 3).
For some people living under a rock; “What’s an ASMR?”, you may be asking.
I’m glad you asked! ASMR stands for ‘autonomous sensory-motor response’. ASMR produces a tingly feeling in your brain which is commonly relaxing to a person. Sounds that comfort us often sound familiar to us, like eating or rubbing something. Mukbangs have eating sounds with foods that have different textures. The mixture of sensory, psychological, social, emotional, environmental, and urological causes these food triggers for our senses and our behaviors according to the Trillest. Mukbangs trigger all of them.
Mukbangers, the more popular ones, can partner with sponsors in their videos or live streams. Partnerships and donations rack in the money for mukbangers, so some hosts end up creating a full-time job off of this new genre.
Mukbangs have originated in Korea and are people simply eating in front of a camera, what’s the big deal?
The big deal is how mukbangs have become turned into this giant appropriation and health scare, something that spread like a wildfire in the trending tab of everyone’s Youtube at some point or another. How America has taken another culture’s way to cope and turned it into a food challenge producing machine. How health issues have risen in this trend. Find out more in Part #2; Hop Across The Pond For Lunch.
Part #2; Hop Across The Pond For Lunch.
Korean Mukbangs Vs. American Mukbangs
Mukbangs originated in South Korea, which has a very strong online presence and influence across the globe. South Korea has the fastest and most developed internet connectivity, but there is a small hamper in being the world’s best at technology. South Korea’s food-loving culture has dated back to the beginning of recorded history. Korean Cuisine is regarded as one of the most enriching parts of the culture, has been found popular in the western world, and is a favorite of mine (Korean BBQ is amazing, I recommend it). You can not simply ignore the fact that Korean food can not be challenged when it comes to how it brings people and tastes together.
America, as it so often does, saw this mukbang trend in South Korea’s social media platforms and said, ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme. I want this in my trending tabs.’
Mukbangs, in South Korea, has been defined as a way to fill a communal void in their society. The tradition of eating with families close and living with each other even after childhood has become harder to do with the growth of people living alone and society leaving no time for people to have sat down meals with one another. Thanks to social media platforms and live-streaming networks, other countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and inevitably, the United States Of America.
The trend evolved as it hopped across the giant pond called the Pacific Ocean and made landfall in America’s trending recommendations in 2015. The growth of mukbangs caused food challenges to also arise in American’s youtube and live-streaming platforms (Shared with Korea and other countries). The main difference between Korean and American mukbangs is the fact that Korean mukbangs are live-streamed when American mukbangs, most of the time, are recorded then posted on social media networks.
Professional (Or not so professional) mukbangers in America upload videos of their mukbang for an audience to earn a portion of ad revenue by the views on the video. Live-streams and videos can also allow people to make donations to the mukbanger, and the comment section of videos helps mukbangers see what food or style of ‘mukbanging’ their audience likes. Another large difference is the portion size of meals eaten during the mukbangs in Korea and America.
“Koreans plan their streams around dinnertime hours so viewers can feel like they are sharing a meal with a friend,” according to Thrillest’s article on What is Mukbang: Why Do We Love To Watch People Eat. American mukbangs take place at any time, but the amount of food is often not a regular meal size (When bigger, more popular mukbangers are eating. I am not saying Korean Mukbangers won’t eat larger-sized meals during mukbangs, but American mukbangs have made it a trend from what I have seen and read). American mukbangers will eat several days of food in an hour or less for a challenge or just to. These food challenges (Such as spicy noodle challenges, themed challenges, calorie challenges) have flourished during the growth of American mukbangs. The appropriation of mukbangs caused the Korean views of mukbangs to create companionship with eating with others even when you aren’t close together to become a festering beast of over-the-top sensationalized eating challenges.
Important Players Of The Mukbang Trend
**This section is from an American standpoint**
Social media has warped mukbangs but also has gained a cult following for the trend as mukbangers became more and more popular. People have dedicated time to create mukbangs to post or live stream for the general public to consume in their Youtube recommendations or Twitch streams. Those that gained popularity, as well as exposure from doing mukbangs (Aka, Mukbang Stars), turned this trend into a possible career in mukbanging. Some even do mukbangs as a full-time job. Mukbangers receive donations from viewers and partnerships from sponsors, such as the Coldest (A water bottle company) and even restaurants (McDonald’s, Wendys, Olive Garden, anything).
“Wendy’s Eating Show”, Erik the Electric, Nikocado Avocado, Zach Choi, and Veronica Wang are a few mukbangers who have risen in views and popularity on Youtube and other streaming services. These mukbangers and many others (well, some) have started to fall into the American Mukbang trend; eating massive amounts of food in a short time. As more popular mukbangers grew on streaming platforms, they started to become more open when speaking during their mukbang time. Some discuss eating disorders that they have overcome, some discuss unhealthy or healthy relationships with others in their life, and some have literal meltdowns on camera. Erik the Electric has openly discussed his battles with anorexia during his videos.
As most trends grow and follow the usual trend patterns, fans demand more content from their favorite mukbangers. Higher demand means more money and content coming from mukbangers, resulting in an endless cycle that grows popular mukbangs every day. The constant stress of the demand to create new content in this genre has caused even drama to spark between mukbangers, even drama between ASMR mukbangers (Mukbangers who only eat foods that give a pleasurable sound when they are eating them, these ASMR mukbangers have a different textured and colored foods, instead of the consumption of large portions of fast food, restaurants, or whatever food the mukbanger wants to eat.)
With the sudden shifts in mukbang culture as it made landfall in the United States of America and the growth in the trend creating famous names in the community, the glorious luster mukbangs seem to give off seems too shiny even better. Unfortunately; all good things must come to an end. Health issues have come into question as the dangerously large portions are being consumed in short amounts of time for days to even weeks. Even questions about the mental health of mukbangs have surfaced! The most important question to rise as well is, whether or not putting someone’s body to the effects of mukbanging worth it after the gains that come with mukbanging? Find out in Part #3; The Good, The Bad, and The Cheesy.
Part #3; The Good, The Bad, and The Cheesy.
Mukbangs seem to be pretty wonderful; you eat in front of thousands of people and get a quick buck off of the meal. You get to eat large portions of high-calorie counting food with no one to judge you. Right? Right?!
Of course, with every trend going around the internet; there is a silver lining. These silver lining does seem to be packing in some heavy blows in an area no one shouldn’t expect. The health of a person is so unbelievably fragile when it comes to anything and the costs of mukbanging target the human body (obviously).
Take the time to name at least one *popular* mukbanger that hasn’t had a mental breakdown on camera or got into some drama with another mukbanger or post consecutively having extremely large banquets of food. In Part #3, we are going to dive into the health consequences and some hard-felt reasons why people do mukbangs (Even though we went over it, but no worries, it’s just a recap with extra information).
Health Issues
Mukbangs involve extreme amounts of eating, but not all of them. Some mukbangers just eat their dinners or maybe something that sounds crunchy or soft for the ASMR effect, but the mukbangs that result in the mukbanger eating an extreme amount of fast food, junk food, and desserts. What do fast food, junk food, and desserts have in common? They can all cause obesity when eaten constantly or in vast quantities with nothing to combat the diet.
Increased risks of weight-related health conditions would be such things as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Other related health issues from large mukbangs (That involve fast food or junk food or desserts) would be diarrhea, gas, bloating, stomach pains, water retention, and gouts. If a person mukbangs regularly, eating healthily whenever they can, drinking lots of water, and exercise can keep these health issues at bay (Depending on moderation and motivation). Still, obesity can’t always be seen nor should it be stereotyped to being something you can see on a person’s body; mukbang stars who don’t ‘gain the weight’ could develop the same issues in ‘visibly obese’ adults alike who have difficulty managing their sugar levels. It’s not what’s on the outside that counts, it’s what’s on the inside.
The potential risks and benefits of the growing trend have a clear reason why mukbangs aren’t the best things to do constantly; it takes roughly 21 days for a habit to form. Either it is drugs, drinking, or food, high amounts of substances can result in a poor form of health to an unhealthy habit. Indulging in mass quantities of junk food once a week isn’t healthy, not by a long shot, regardless of how healthy a person is. According to the article in MensHealth.com (Source located below), a statement was taken from Dr. Andrew Bates, M.D. and assistant professor of surgery in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, on the subject of mukbangs that said ‘It’s quite a roller coaster to put your body on. Your body won’t know whether you’re in feast or famine mode.” In the statement, Dr. Andrew Bates describes the binging and clean eating can make your system’s biochemical signaling go haywire during mukbangs, expectantly when a person does them a few or several times a week. With giant, extremely high calorie and sugar counting mukbangs that are taking place several days at a time could lead to this habit of your body not knowing if you are starving to death or gorging yourself with massive proportions eaten.
Physical health is not the only thing to raise concerns with the mukbang trend growing; mental issues have arisen in the limelight. Mukbangs may promote overeating and encourage poor eating habits, mukbangers overindulge massive amounts of food through massive portions sizes. Glamorizing large portions can result in large meal plates and rising the intake of poorer nutrition choices, and viewers could be picking up their favorite mukbangers’ habits as well. Watching mukbangers may trigger disordered eating patterns in impressionable viewers or trigger those viewers who already have eating disorders.
The world of mukbangers seems to be riddled with drama, as most trends do accumulate large fan bases with several creators and this insane demand of pumping out new content constantly can be overwhelming. Some regular mukbangers and ASMR mukbangers have been criticized for copying each other, as well as having deeper, darker drama. With such heavy drama, there is always the consequence of mental health being damaged by the constant demands of eating large portions of food for viewers and dealing with criticism and possibly online fights.
The stress and anxieties that come with being a content creator with any platform or any genre can be hard to manage, especially when fans or random people on the internet are trying to give advice or express a diagnosis if a content creator ‘didn’t deliver something correctly’ or ‘something about them felt off that day’. Some creators can put up fake images and personalities to bring in more views, which does not mean only mukbang creators could be doing so yet it does leave some to wonder about the mental health challenges in communities like these where content demanded, drama occurs constantly, and you are eating large amounts of processed foods.
Everything often has a large or small silver lining, the mukbang community is no exception. Health concerns come from all angles, yet there are some plus sides to mukbangs that are rather shocking compared to the risk of health issues. Let’s take a look at the benefits of throwing your body to an extreme (Or not) for some views.
Reasons To Mukbang.
With the rise of technology and demands of the working class through 9–5 jobs, the art of mealtime with family and friends is beginning to die out. The community surrounding eating food with a community is very important to our society; it’s a time to calm down with loved ones enjoying tasty food to recount stories from the day or address important things to come for the next few days. Technology however is a blessing and a curse through social media. Social media can bring people together as well as influence our behaviors around food and food culture. Mukbangers were the offspring of a society surrounded by technology that also has an old, important, and very tasty food culture.
Korea has found a semi-solution to the problem of fewer and fewer people being able to get with families and friends for a good meal through live-streamed mukbangs. The Korean Mukbangs brought people together, then got appropriated by the Western Hemisphere (United States of America), yet bringing people together through food is still present in the Western Mukbangs of America and the Korean ones. The audience that watches mukbangers grow a connection with the content and the creators that they might not be able to have with the busy schedule everyone has when in the working-age as well as those affected by the lack of mealtimes shared with others. Another plus would be how mukbangs create soothing atmospheres for some viewers.
Mukbangers must maintain an entertaining presence AND good audio for the viewers. ASMR comes mainly from sounds, which has been previously stated and many people find the sounds of eating and small banter calming. Mukbangers have the choice of eating with or without speaking so there is a variety to watch when it comes to mukbang content for those who rely on sensory. The more audio and expression in a mukbanger, the more views they can receive.
Diet Culture is pretty lame. They can be restrictive on what a person should and shouldn’t eat. Social media is another blessing and curse because food culture can be one trend one day and another the next. Mukbangs break the mold when it comes to diet cultures by often showcasing and indulging in foods that are considered ‘bad’ for their reputations in our diet-crazed society. Food avoidance is a large problem among young people and people need to find body positivity in healthy ways. Mukbangs can influence people to become more comfortable in their own skin when it comes to eating the food they want.
People shouldn’t be forced into eating certain foods or appearing a certain way to meet society’s viewpoints, yet moderation when it comes to food can help you grow a more positive outlook on yourself and your diets. Some mukbangers do overindulge, but that doesn’t mean the whole community is unhealthy or overindulging in processed foods. Just like how mukbangs can influence impressionable audiences through dietary habits, they can also empower those who want to feel comfortable with themselves who feel vulnerable in certain positions when it comes to food and diets.
The main reason why mukbangs seem to be a very hot topic is the number of views that are brought in from it. Mukbangers can receive $1,500 — $9,400 from their content, which doesn’t sound half bad since all the person is doing is eating or sometimes talking as well to create content! That’s an insane amount of money! Attention means money and if that attention comes from eating food (whether it be in a lovely little Livestream for dinnertime, a food challenge, or eating enormous amounts of food with long segments of conversation) or causing drama for exposure in the community.
The benefits of mukbanging are rather effective in keeping audiences entertained as well as break traditional molds in diet culture and food cultures with the mukbang creators getting money and a good meal in the process, yet are the health consequences worth it? Who knows.
In Conclusion.
Mukbangs originated in Korea and were adopted in the United States through social media and the dying art of eating a meal with others. Some have appropriated the culture behind mukbangs into food challenges or drama fests, yet most mukbangers receive money from the attention they have from audiences around the world that are either combatting diet culture, wanting to hear some good ASMR, or just wanting to be entertained. The health consequences of the adulterated mukbang community and meals have raised eyebrows in regards to how safe this trend is.
Trends have their ups and downs. Mukbangs had been a trend to bring more people together, which is the whole point of gaining back meal time with others for social time. It’s not personal, it’s not hurting you or me and it’s the content creators' choice with how they want to mukbang. Everyone can eat how they want and mukbangs prove that.
In conclusion, the aspects of mukbangs seem to be scattered from culture to culture yet that doesn’t mean it’s bad or good. It’s merely in the middle.
