After a tasking day of work, a leisure activity that I like to do the most in my dormitory is to watch mukbang videos. Mukbang (먹방) which is an acronym mukneun bangsong and translates to ‘eating show’ in English are videos that youtubers film of them eating a particular type of food, often in huge portions. In these videos, the mukbangers often explain the food they are eating and describe its taste, texture, appearance, and information where they obtained the items. In addition, these muknang videos also serve the same functions as a Yelp review in the sense that they offer recommendations for the restaurants and give their honest opinions about the food. This way, the viewers can get a great sense of what that food tastes like and if they would like to spend their money on it. Furthermore, youtubers tend to film themselves eating types of related to fast food items like (McDonald's or Domino’s Pizza) or late night cravings like tteokbokki and ramen. Uploading these kinds of content means audiences will want to watch these videos to “satisfy’ their own cravings (although personally, I think watching these videos make me more hungry).
Despite stating that these videos make me hungry, I frankly watch maybe around 10-20 mukbang videos daily, especially when I am on a diet plan. My favorite mukbang youtubers include “ddonggae,” “sas-asmr,” and “nado” which all have more than 2 million subscribers. For some reason, I watch these videos when I am craving a certain type of food. For example, when I crave authentic, Korean chicken with cheese balls and fried mozzarella sticks, I proceed to search mukbang videos that correspond with those food items. Additionally, I think the mukbang videos are very useful when you do not know what to eat. I simply scroll down a mukbanger’s content channel and look at the titles of the videos. After looking through it for about 5 minutes, most likely, I will find something I want to eat, especially during my cheat day. Personally, the main reason why these videos are so fun and satisfying to watch is because there is something so pleasurable when the mukanger takes a huge bite out of their food. It is an unexplainable feeling. I know that in the United States, mukbangs are not that popular and are in some cases hated because of the emphasized noises of chewing and biting when the mukbangers eat the food. When I talked to my non-asian friends about watching mukbang videos, she was very weirded out about the entire idea of filming oneself eating. Additionally, she was very conscious about the mukbangers’ chewing style while I, on the other hand, was not really aware that they were not chewing with their mouth all the way closed.
I believe mukbang is an essential cultural aspect of Korean entertainment which has developed exponentially over the years. It has become such a huge part that some mukbangers consider filming mukbangs to be their career and earn a great deal of money.
Comments
Vivian, thanks for sharing this post about mukbang! When my sister first tried to show me a 20 minute mukbang, I was confused that people enjoyed watching others eat food with a microphone next to there mouth; I didn't even last 2 minutes. After a couple days, I found myself oddly satisfied by watching these videos. Other than the asmr the video provides, I read that people who live alone are comforted by watching mukbangs because they get the feeling that they are having a meal with another person. I'll watch them occasionally now, but definitely not before sleeping because that would just make me hungry.
This is a fascinating post, Vivian. Please look to include pictures, examples video clips, etc., to help elucidate or demonstrate your points. The artifact should be something that you can show or share with the rest of the group.