Now prevalent on many fitness-based youtube channels, this Korean-born trend appears to be the dream for any foodie on a cheat day. If you're out of the loop, a mukbang is the combination of the Korean words "meokneun, 'eating', and bangsong, 'broadcast'" and was popularized by South Korean Youtubers as a way of eating with their viewers— with a twist! Within these first videos, one would often see a thin Korean person behind a giant plate of food.
Absurdly huge helpings of seafood, spicy ramen, or Italian pasta are polished off by these small-framed people. In terms of views, these videos took off and gained a large viewership. Already a food-obsessed country, American fitness YouTubers subsequently picked up the craze— incorporating sweet-based and fast-food-based mukbangs as their cheat days. Eventually, overweight and obese YouTubers also incorporated the trend into their videos as well— calling into question the ethics of such a pastime.
Without fail, these videos seem to attract a large viewership regardless of the person behind the plate. Because of this large viewership for what on the surface seems to be a monotonous video genre, many who first encounter this trend come up with theories as to why it is so popular. One article by "The Guardian" poses the answer that people who live alone want company. I've also heard the theory that women eating large amounts of food is a fetish for some men. Although those theories may have some truth to them, I have my own theory.
As someone who used to watch them somewhat frequently, I think the viewers just want to eat what the "mukbanger" is eating. As a child, I grew up on Mcdonalds because my dad didn't know how to cook and my mom was at work. Since then, it was hard for me to eat healthy without being totally disgusted by my unfamiliar-textured salad. To cope, I would cue up a mukbang on my laptop and pretend I was eating the large plate of fettuccine instead of my dressingless salad. It sounds silly, but it worked for the moment.
Over time, however, as I watched these videos I found myself normalizing the idea of eating gigantic portions of food. Eventually, I did it myself in secret. Olive garden, whole boxes of Pop-Tarts and cereal, and home-made cookies became my weapons of choice on weekends. Then, in times of stress, I turned to these large helpings of food during the school week. Suddenly, I found myself grabbing a box of cinnamon pop tarts before beginning an essay or munching on a box of "Honey Bunches of Oats" while freaking out over midterms. Consequently, I ended up gaining ten pounds that semester before I told myself enough was enough.
Most aren't as lucky, however, since what in all honesty is a binge-eating broadcast not only has become commonplace but is an avenue of income for many. Take the overweight and obese mukbangers I mentioned earlier, for instance. Usually, these YouTubers started out as diet channels which gleaned much success in terms of weight loss, but once they caught wind of this trend on fitness channels, they mistook this filmed over-indulgence as a healthy habit for once a week.
Much like a sober alcoholic who takes a sip of wine, these individuals suddenly begin recording multiple mukbangs a week— and see rewards. Because these videos glean a large viewership, these weight-loss channels may see more money flowing in than usual— adding further justification to solidifying this harmful habit in their heads. Take the channel "Amberlynn Reid" for example. The channel belongs to a Youtuber of the same name who is over 500 lbs. In earlier videos, one can see she was losing weight (around 80 lbs) and en route to losing more. Eventually, however, her channel became riddled with mukbangs of her eating Chinese food, McDonalds, and whole boxes of pizza. Approximately, instead of losing weight, she ended up gaining another 200 lbs!
Another YouTuber whose channel is completely devoted to mukbanging and has been featured on Tosh.0, named of "Nikocado Avocado," has encountered dangerous repercussions from this trend. Aside from clearly gaining a large amount of weight over time, this YouTuber is renowned for crying on camera and panicking from fears of diabetes and kidney failure due to the large amounts of sugar and sodium he consumes in one sitting. In his segment on Tosh.0, he even discusses the regret he often feels after a video.
From watching Nikocado Avocado and Amberlynn Reid's spiral into overeating, along with experiencing my own boats of it, it is plain to see how harmful these videos are. It's time this fad dies off before its contributors do.
