If you’ve perused the internet in any capacity, it’s very likely that you have come across content that is exclusively catered around food and its consumption. Eating food “deliciously” is something we’ve all watched at some point down the internet rabbit hole.
Mukbang origins and around the world
The mukbang – or meokbang – is a Korean term that translates to “an eating show”. It is also exclusively food-related content that has gained immense traction online amongst viewers of late, even in Sri Lanka. Mukbang is essentially an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. This became popular in South Korea in 2010, and since then has become a global trend.
As is the nature of the internet, however, the trend has mutated and evolved to an extreme, and it now often represents the consumption of ungodly amounts of food for content. Forming a fusion genre with ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), mukbang has evolved into an entirely different beast. You may be familiar with some of these videos where you find a singular individual loudly slurping and “umming” and “yumming” their massive quantities of food as they gulp it down in large bites.
This new mutation can be attributed to the Americanisation of the trend, with many American food vloggers adopting the trend and blowing it out of proportion – so much so that there are certain YouTubers, like Nikocado Avocado (known as the king of mukbangs), who has created a genre of “extreme eating”, which has many of his viewers concerned for his health due to the consistent intake of unhealthy quantities of calories in one sitting.
According to research conducted by the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction on “The Psychology of Mukbang Watching”, it is important to note the trend’s origins – which is South Korea, where consuming meals is a largely communal activity. However, due to South Korea’s exceedingly work-based culture, and with more and more single people living in individual housing units, a society that has an ingrained practice of eating together is forced to eat their meals alone at home. To remedy this growing circumstance, the mukbang became popular for solo eaters to have company as they ate their meals.
The research dictates that: “In Korea, it’s not common for people to go out to eat by themselves,” and that “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 socialise while eating, which is what mukbangers replicate”.
In Sri Lanka
Here in South Asia, we have a very social culture, and the same goes for Sri Lanka as well. Eating for us is a communal occasion, and it is very rare that we as Sri Lankans eat alone.
This is likely why food vlogging has gained a lot of popularity in the island. There is a large influx of food vloggers coming up online, many on YouTube and others on Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere, featuring videos of large quantities of food and consuming them before the camera for their viewers.
However, when speaking to a number of Lankan food vloggers regarding this, they shared that in Sri Lanka, it is more a matter of getting your eyes on variety than anything else. Many of them provided that for Sri Lankans at least, it is about the exposure to a multitude of cuisine rather than the act of eating itself.
Sri Lankan food vlogger Luxan Raj shared his thoughts on the matter, stating that in his case: “Leaving Sri Lanka and moving to New Zealand exposed me to a completely new flavour palette than what I was used to here. A multitude of cultures and cuisines left me with a passion to try more. Once I returned to Sri Lanka, I wanted to continue my culinary journey and also to share my unique perspective with my friends. What started out as a hobby gradually grew into a part-time job. I wanted people to know where to find good food from different cuisines. With a lot of influencers simply doing ads for restaurants, I wanted to stand out as being impartial, and to give an honest review of the different types of cuisines that Sri Lanka has to offer.”
[caption id="attachment_178898" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Kavindi of Travel and Nibbles[/caption]
Similarly, Kavindi of “Travel and Nibbles” also shared her thoughts: “It is about variety. We don’t all want to be experiencing the same things every single day,” she said, adding: “I think food vlogging should also be done with a certain level of professionalism.” She shared that in Sri Lanka, people often watch your food vlog hoping to get an honest opinion about an outlet. However, these days the reviews tend to be incredibly biased, which has somewhat diluted the purpose of vlogging.
As for the trend of mukbangs, Kavindi said: “Food waste is a sin in my eyes, and consuming large quantities of food with no real purpose is not something I promote.” She added that she feels mukbangs have evolved into a sort of fetish, and is taking over the darker side of the internet.
This idea that mukbangs are a fetish has been circulated around the interwebs for some time now, especially considering how specific the content is and how the ASMR quality of it all has really made it an “intimate” experience.
In his research “The Sociology of Deviance” Kai T. Erikson discussed the appeal of watching others eat: “Although speculative, psychoanalytic framework provides some potential insight about why humans not only find pleasure in eating, but also enjoy watching others do so in these food broadcasting shows,” he said, adding: “While mukbangs do not intentionally contain sexual content, it is difficult to deny the possible underlying erotic elements in these eating shows.”
The enticement of mukbangs
Even if you are someone who finds it unsettling to watch and listen to people eating in real life, it is possible that you find mukbang videos quite addictive, and it would seem that you are not alone.
With the growing trend of mukbangs and the ever growing popularity of food vlogging, the concept of visual hunger, or the idea of “eating with our eyes” has been introduced. Because the brain and visual system are so closely connected, looking at beautiful images of food increases the human desire for it, as well as the satiation of hunger.
Many people naturally associate food with pleasure, so it brings them a sense of happiness when vicariously enjoying food through online mukbangers or food vloggers. Which is potentially why the gradual evolution of some mukbang channels on YouTube has taken on the fusion genre of ASMR and focused on producing different eating sounds. These videos tend to be therapeutic for viewers since they are known to send relaxing tingling sensations from the brain down to the rest of the body. It has even been discussed that they can potentially lower a viewer’s stress level while improving mood and blood flow.
On a personal note, in addition to the entertainment aspect, viewing mukbang/food vlog channels has awakened an endless curiosity in us to try new foods from different cultures. It can be said that the more people become exposed to other cultures, the more worldly and informed they become. Through the wide exposure to food from viewing these channels, it accomplishes just this for people who are unable to frequently travel to taste international cuisines, and it could potentially create a positive effect on the lives of viewers as well.
Mukbang origins and around the world
The mukbang – or meokbang – is a Korean term that translates to “an eating show”. It is also exclusively food-related content that has gained immense traction online amongst viewers of late, even in Sri Lanka. Mukbang is essentially an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. This became popular in South Korea in 2010, and since then has become a global trend.
As is the nature of the internet, however, the trend has mutated and evolved to an extreme, and it now often represents the consumption of ungodly amounts of food for content. Forming a fusion genre with ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), mukbang has evolved into an entirely different beast. You may be familiar with some of these videos where you find a singular individual loudly slurping and “umming” and “yumming” their massive quantities of food as they gulp it down in large bites.
This new mutation can be attributed to the Americanisation of the trend, with many American food vloggers adopting the trend and blowing it out of proportion – so much so that there are certain YouTubers, like Nikocado Avocado (known as the king of mukbangs), who has created a genre of “extreme eating”, which has many of his viewers concerned for his health due to the consistent intake of unhealthy quantities of calories in one sitting.
According to research conducted by the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction on “The Psychology of Mukbang Watching”, it is important to note the trend’s origins – which is South Korea, where consuming meals is a largely communal activity. However, due to South Korea’s exceedingly work-based culture, and with more and more single people living in individual housing units, a society that has an ingrained practice of eating together is forced to eat their meals alone at home. To remedy this growing circumstance, the mukbang became popular for solo eaters to have company as they ate their meals.
The research dictates that: “In Korea, it’s not common for people to go out to eat by themselves,” and that “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 socialise while eating, which is what mukbangers replicate”.
In Sri Lanka
Here in South Asia, we have a very social culture, and the same goes for Sri Lanka as well. Eating for us is a communal occasion, and it is very rare that we as Sri Lankans eat alone.
This is likely why food vlogging has gained a lot of popularity in the island. There is a large influx of food vloggers coming up online, many on YouTube and others on Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere, featuring videos of large quantities of food and consuming them before the camera for their viewers.
However, when speaking to a number of Lankan food vloggers regarding this, they shared that in Sri Lanka, it is more a matter of getting your eyes on variety than anything else. Many of them provided that for Sri Lankans at least, it is about the exposure to a multitude of cuisine rather than the act of eating itself.
Sri Lankan food vlogger Luxan Raj shared his thoughts on the matter, stating that in his case: “Leaving Sri Lanka and moving to New Zealand exposed me to a completely new flavour palette than what I was used to here. A multitude of cultures and cuisines left me with a passion to try more. Once I returned to Sri Lanka, I wanted to continue my culinary journey and also to share my unique perspective with my friends. What started out as a hobby gradually grew into a part-time job. I wanted people to know where to find good food from different cuisines. With a lot of influencers simply doing ads for restaurants, I wanted to stand out as being impartial, and to give an honest review of the different types of cuisines that Sri Lanka has to offer.”
[caption id="attachment_178898" align="alignleft" width="300"] Kavindi of Travel and Nibbles[/caption]
Similarly, Kavindi of “Travel and Nibbles” also shared her thoughts: “It is about variety. We don’t all want to be experiencing the same things every single day,” she said, adding: “I think food vlogging should also be done with a certain level of professionalism.” She shared that in Sri Lanka, people often watch your food vlog hoping to get an honest opinion about an outlet. However, these days the reviews tend to be incredibly biased, which has somewhat diluted the purpose of vlogging.
As for the trend of mukbangs, Kavindi said: “Food waste is a sin in my eyes, and consuming large quantities of food with no real purpose is not something I promote.” She added that she feels mukbangs have evolved into a sort of fetish, and is taking over the darker side of the internet.
This idea that mukbangs are a fetish has been circulated around the interwebs for some time now, especially considering how specific the content is and how the ASMR quality of it all has really made it an “intimate” experience.
In his research “The Sociology of Deviance” Kai T. Erikson discussed the appeal of watching others eat: “Although speculative, psychoanalytic framework provides some potential insight about why humans not only find pleasure in eating, but also enjoy watching others do so in these food broadcasting shows,” he said, adding: “While mukbangs do not intentionally contain sexual content, it is difficult to deny the possible underlying erotic elements in these eating shows.”
The enticement of mukbangs
Even if you are someone who finds it unsettling to watch and listen to people eating in real life, it is possible that you find mukbang videos quite addictive, and it would seem that you are not alone.
With the growing trend of mukbangs and the ever growing popularity of food vlogging, the concept of visual hunger, or the idea of “eating with our eyes” has been introduced. Because the brain and visual system are so closely connected, looking at beautiful images of food increases the human desire for it, as well as the satiation of hunger.
Many people naturally associate food with pleasure, so it brings them a sense of happiness when vicariously enjoying food through online mukbangers or food vloggers. Which is potentially why the gradual evolution of some mukbang channels on YouTube has taken on the fusion genre of ASMR and focused on producing different eating sounds. These videos tend to be therapeutic for viewers since they are known to send relaxing tingling sensations from the brain down to the rest of the body. It has even been discussed that they can potentially lower a viewer’s stress level while improving mood and blood flow.
On a personal note, in addition to the entertainment aspect, viewing mukbang/food vlog channels has awakened an endless curiosity in us to try new foods from different cultures. It can be said that the more people become exposed to other cultures, the more worldly and informed they become. Through the wide exposure to food from viewing these channels, it accomplishes just this for people who are unable to frequently travel to taste international cuisines, and it could potentially create a positive effect on the lives of viewers as well.