The Mukbang Epidemic
What was once confined to YouTube has since become a staple aspect of social media
This article is part of The G Spot, a weekly segment where criticista Gordistotle gives insight into the pop culture happenings of now through opinions or anecdotes on his life living in Toronto.
From left to right: @ImpossibleRuns, @cocoeatz, @michaelfinch, @lifewithcian
If you’re like me, you probably spend way too much time scrolling through Instagram Reels than you should. These one-minute (if you even make it through the whole clip), videos have taken our attention spans by storm. Thanks to TikTok, short-form content has taken over social media platforms, like Instagram and YouTube, whether we like it or not. And who wouldn’t want a piece of the $100 billion pie?
Speaking of pies - and while this may just be my algorithm - what is up with everyone’s obsession with food? More specifically, their obsession with eating it on camera?
While the internet may move rapidly, eating on camera is still a relatively new thing in the grand scheme of things. Having originally gained global notoriety during the mid-2010s following its popularization in South Korea, a “mukbang” - direct translation being “eating broadcast” - consists of filming yourself eating. It doesn’t matter what the food is, just that you’re eating it, and most likely, lots of it. As a teenager during the trend’s rise to global popularity, it was a commonplace verb amongst my friends and me. For example, eating lunch in the cafeteria would always result in someone suggesting to “film a mukbang”. I can't go without giving credit where credit is due; Trisha Paytas had a large hand in popularizing the genre, at least, amongst my friends and me.
As a teenager working through disordered eating, I found myself fascinated by the concept, and albeit as a guilty pleasure, sought out more videos. I found myself watching ASMR Eating videos to help fall asleep. Eventually (and thankfully) I grew out of the habit.
However, this niche was mostly tucked away on YouTube, with the videos typically lasting 30 minutes minimum. I had to actively seek them out and decide to sit down and watch them. It’s different now…
With the rise of TikToks and Reels, I can’t open Instagram Explore without being bombarded by Crumbl cookie of the week reviews. I’ll be honest, I click them. I’m bored, I’m snacky, and I’m curious. Sure, let’s see what the Olivia Rodrigo Crumbl Cookie tastes like, I’m actually dying to know.
After clicking the first video I’ll find myself mindlessly scrolling for 10 minutes at a time watching literally anybody eat dessert after dessert before asking myself,“What am I doing?”. I’ll forget for a bit, get back to what I’m doing, and then find myself nodding off and repeating the whole process. You do not want to see my screen time.
In high school, these types of videos were reserved for bedtime, but now I find myself watching them whenever I pick up my phone.
The History Of MukBangs
As previously mentioned, the trend originated in South Korea. It began with mukbang live streams where the “mukbanger” would interact with their audience while eating. The original concept was to combat loneliness, and viewers would eat alongside the streamer. I don’t really buy that (it’s always been a diet thing), but sure. However, once the trend caught wind globally, Mukbang YouTube channels sprung up rapidly. YouTubers would hop on the trend as a joke, or all of a sudden dedicate their channel to it entirely.
As the internet made the gradual shift to short-term content, the dedicated mukbang channels began to pivot and post on TikTok or Instagram. Shortening their hour-long feast into bite-size pieces prepped for virality. It’s quite easy to go viral on short-form platforms, and now that these Mukbangs don’t even need to be feasts anymore, the genre has exploded. A 30-second video of someone eating a cookie can generate millions of views. Yes, it’s really that easy.
Mukbangs are an audiovisual (and if you use your imagination), taste experience. It’s probably the simplest form of content to both create and consume, with nothing to take away aside from just “Yes, this Oreo cookie tastes just like an Oreo”. Thank you so much for the insightful observation! You're essentially putting your brain in a blender and looking at the people eating a box of Crumbl cookies.
What’s the point of Mukbangs?
Don’t think for a second people aren’t making obscene amounts of money off this. Some people are making their livelihoods off mukbangs, or at least, a sizable amount of pocket change. CPC (Cost-Per-Click) is no joke, these social media payouts have the potential to be huge. That’s not even taking into consideration brand sponsorships, or even merch? For some reason these people have merch.
Brands have taken notice and begun using Mukbangers as a promotional tool, it’s how Crumbl cookie initially blew up, you saw someone eating one online and you wanted to try one too. Now they’re so big the advertising is done for them, with weekly flavours; mukbangers come back each time to get that sweet engagement.
And yes, I watch them. I couldn’t bring myself to spend almost $10 on an I told myself I wouldn’t mention calories unhealthy cookie, so I’ll let them tell me how they taste.
What do we do about this?
Everyone who participates in this trend’s obsession with food is unhealthy, shocker! I’m obviously guilty as well, I’m sure it’s easy to infer from this article, but I have a bit of a difficult relationship with food, don’t we all in some sort of way? Eating and diets will always be a touchy subject for many. Mukbangs satisfy the viewer’s demands by eating for them: by vicariously enjoying the food, the viewer forgoes having to eat themselves. This creates an even more toxic relationship with food. If you want to eat something, just go eat it!
It isn’t just the viewer that suffers from disordered eating, a large majority of these creators (the ‘creating’ in question being: eating food…words used to mean things) aren’t even eating the food. Watch any of these short clips, while they’re always cropped to show each bite, they end right before the mukbanger swallows. The creators will vehemently deny it, but come on, there’s no way you aren’t spitting out your food.
Let’s all just stop this charade. I pledge to stop watching Crumbl cookie reviews, even while writing this article I found myself switching over to Instagram to numb my brain. Enough is enough! I take back my autonomy!
Going forward, everyone please stop buying $10 cookies. Let’s remember the principles, there’s millions of recipes on the internet for anything your heart desires, including cookies, literally the easiest dessert to make yourself. Stop watching people eat and go through the rewarding process of making your own food! It tastes so much better than watching a screen for hours on end.