Usually, an activity can become a phenomenon or trend when it showcases things beyond the ordinary. The same goes to mukbang, which involves a person on the internet eating a huge meal in front of the audience, in one sitting.
Mukbang which is a Korean (먹방) portmanteau for "eating" and "broadcast". The act is usually done through a webcast, using platforms such as Afreeca, YouTube or Twitch, with the person eating a variety of food.
The trend is said to have spread and popularized beyond South Korea by Simon Stawski, a Canadian blogger who co-founded 'Eat Your Kimchi', after he moved to the country in 2008.
Mukbanging first came years before 2014, but it wasn’t until 2015 that it became the internet phenomenon that crosses continents.
“In Korea, it’s not common for people to go out to eat by themselves,” explained Stawski to TODAY Food. “Dining is a social activity, and you don’t sit and eat alone. For those that can’t eat with others, they’ll more than likely stay home to eat alone, but they’ll still have the urge to socialize while eating, which is what I think mukbangers replicate.”
What mukbang brings to its audience, is the sensation of “autonomous sensory meridian response” (ASMR).
ASMR is where the viewers claim to experience immense pleasure from watching or listening to everyday habits like whispering, hair brushing, folding clothes and more.
Before mukbang became an internet phenomenon, there were already people on the internet who broadcast activities involving sounds of people eating food that include slurping, chewing and other noises emitted while eating.
This is because food stimulates the basic instincts of humans, and mukbanging gives that similar sensation.
Mukbanging can give that "tingle" where the viewers or listeners feel hungry in an almost hypnotic way. To some others, it allows them to fantasize the food as if they are eating it, or curb hunger or even relieve stress.
After taking off from South Korea, people in many places all over the world started to make their own mukbang videos.
And here, as millions tune in to watch their favorite mukbangers forming the cultural phenomenon, many of these internet personalities earn thousands of dollars and beyond from ads, donations, endorsements, e-book and product reviews, per month.
Mukbang involves the person eating a lot of food at one sitting. Often, the amount of food is sufficient to feed a whole family.
Here, mukbangers may chow down on everything from dozens of bowls of ramen, to buckets of KFC and nuggets, pile or burgers, multiple pizzas, a full set of Chinese food, a heap amount of salad, pails of candies, and others.
Many of what they consume can contain at least 10,000 calories.
Most of the time, mukbangers film their videos at home in on a table near the kitchen or an electric burner, or beside several containers of delivered food. Sometimes, these internet personalities also venture out into actual restaurants to film their videos.
The biggest difference between mukbangers in South Korea and elsewhere is that, the mukbang from Korea are usually done live on platforms like Afreeca. Mukbangers from other countries on the other hand, tend to prefer pre-recording their video with some editing, and upload the videos to YouTube.
South Korean mukbangers are also largely silent, which means that the focus of the mukbanging is almost entirely on the actual act of eating. Elsewhere, especially when the activities are pre-recorded, the mukbangers also do some talking in ways similar to food bloggers.
While the aims for these videos are mostly for money and to please the viewers, but the nature of mukbanging can also trigger eating disorder for the viewers. And for the mukbangers themselves, they are also at risk of a lot of health concerns, including heart attack and developing insulin resistance.