야식 (which is what food eaten late at night is usually called) is a really popular part of modern Korean culture. While late night food might not seem like a big deal to foreigners, 야식 isn't just a typical late midnight snack. Because there is a widespread "diet culture" of sorts (almost all women diet in some way because of the strict beauty standards in Korea), there is arguably just as strong of an urge to break that diet. The menu that makes up the most popular foods for 야식 are exactly the kinds of foods that are the worst to eat at night: greasy, spicy, high-calorie, fried foods are the go-to. Foods like fried chicken and spicy ramen (also known as bul-ddak or 불닭 볶음면 is a brand of ramen that became enormously popular for how almost painfully spicy it was) are some examples of popular choices. Videos of people eating, called mukbang or 먹방 are extremely popular because they act as a way of enjoying the food but not having to face the consequences of actually eating it.
This link is to a mukbang video of a popular youtuber eating spicy chicken and rice at night:
Comments
Wow! This is such an interesting phenomenon. It sounds so delicious, and yet also sad that diet-culture contributes to difficult relationships with food. I wonder how people who make the mukbang videos get into it - do they just love food and realize they can capitalize on it? Thanks for sharing!