If you’ve been scrolling through social media recently, you might have come across a strange phenomenon known as mukbang.
Roughly translating as ‘eating broadcast’ in English, mukbang rose to prominence in South Korea in the 2010s, thanks to rising loneliness levels amongst the younger generations. As in many cultures across the world, dinner is traditionally a social event in Korea. But with more people living alone, mukbang became a popular way to dine together, albeit digitally.
Essentially, a content creator would eat foods like ramen and tteokbokki in front of a camera, whilst talking about their day and putting questions to their viewers. This video would then be uploaded onto social media, ready for their followers to watch and converse with at the dining table. It sounds a bit dystopian. But the trend had genuinely good intentions: to provide a solution to growing social isolation and a space to share an appreciation for decent cuisine.
Money, Money, Money!
Unfortunately, the mukbangs of today are so far removed from this original concept that they are completely unrecognisable. The most famous mukbang creators now come from the United States. And their videos can only be described as unhinged. Brimming with bad-mouthing and binge-eating, viewers can watch as their favourite YouTubers steadily gorge on fast foods like pizzas and chilli cheese corn dogs.
Don’t believe me? Try looking up ‘mukbang’ and see the types of videos that come first. One features a man consuming an entire box of chicken strips, three ginormous portions of fries and five burgers, each nearly twice the size of his head, topped off with a swig of soda and a plea to buy his merch. In another, a petite woman wolfs down copious amounts of macaroons, cookies, chocolate bars, crepes, ice cream and any other sweet treat you can think of in just 15 minutes. No matter how far down you scroll, each thumbnail is identical: a table laden with mounds of greasy junk food, piled up so high that you can hardly see the influencer’s face in the background.
You don’t need to be a nutritionist to know that neither the type of food nor the vast quantities being consumed at lightning speed is healthy. But some people will do anything for money. And the mukbang industry is particularly lucrative. With a large appetite for this type of content on social media, numerous mukbang channels have legions of fans and oodles of brand deals. World-renowned Zach Choi has around 86 million followers across multiple social media platforms and allegedly earns three figures a month. The infamous Nikocado Avocado has almost 7 million followers on YouTube alone, whilst the popular Hunnibee has nearly 10 million. Other influencers have even enlisted their children in an effort to go viral.
Health Hazard
Once a creator begins to amass a large audience, they will want to keep their viewers hooked. Ideally, the content needs to keep increasing in entertainment value. This means the challenges have to become more outrageous and the quantities of food more extreme. This was the case with the aforementioned Nikoado, whose weight peaked at 411lbs (186kg). He intentionally sought to rile up his audience, releasing videos titled ‘I keep gaining weight, and I don’t care,’ or ‘I’m gaining so much weight and now my clothes don’t fit’ to remain relevant online. The term ‘rage bait’ comes to mind. In an age of shortening attention spans, how else do creators get their audience to continue coming back for seconds?
Mukbangers used to be virtual companions for their viewers. Now they are their slaves, putting their health (and lives) at risk to satisfy their followers’ insatiable cravings. In 2024, Chinese influencer Pan Xiaoting died after her stomach reportedly ripped open during a 10-hour binge-eating livestream. An autopsy report revealed she had 10kg of undigested food in her belly. A year later, notorious Turkish mukbanger Efecan Kultur died from obesity-related causes. Both were only in their twenties. These tragic deaths highlight some of the dangers of overeating. Obesity increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain cancers. Additionally, it can be detrimental to the functioning of the heart, kidneys and liver, as well as negatively impacting one’s sleep and mood.
Now that you know this, you’re probably wondering why anyone would condemn themselves to such a fate for something so short-lived as views. The answer is simple. Even before you consider the incentives of a million-pound salary and internet stardom, we know that ultra-processed food is highly addictive. The combination of fats, salts and sugars it contains makes it hard to give up. When you then throw in the promise of fame and fortune into the mix, you can understand why building a career on mukbang might appeal to so many. Who wouldn’t want to make a living from eating tasty fast food?
Disordered Eating
If the risks to mukbangers’ health weren’t bad enough, this trend is also damaging viewers’ health. A report published in the Cereus Journal of Medical Science says that ‘excessive use of mukbang [is] linked to a wide variety of health problems, including obesity and eating disorders.’ In some cases, viewers feel encouraged to consume the same amount of food as their favourite mukbangers, who normalise enormous portions. In others, people with anorexia or bulimia watch mukbangs to convince themselves that they have eaten voraciously when they have not eaten at all.
Youngsters with access to social media are not immune to these influences. A 2024 study from South Korea found that the more children and adolescents watched mukbang videos, the greater the amount of snacks they consumed. Meanwhile, they became less inclined to eat breakfast and dinner, proving its negative impact on viewers’ dietary habits.
Once a wholesome trend, mukbang has been corrupted by greed, gluttony and a collective willingness to do anything for views, making it truly difficult to stomach.
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