An eating show spreads around the internet, a phenomenon that booms drastically over ten years that we're all familiar with is mukbang. As you guys probably have figured, mukbang originated from South Korea. The word mukbang (먹방) came from a combination of two words, meokja (먹자), which translates to eat, and bang-song (방송), which means broadcasting. Put the two together, and you get an online eating broadcast in which the host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience.
Mukbang's origin has correlated with Korean eating culture, whereas dining is considered a social activity. If you pay attention, a standard portion in a Korean restaurant might be too much for a person due to their sharing tradition. So, those who don't have pals for lunch or dinner would usually stay at home and eat alone. Mukbang itself is believed to have emerged from the solo-eating population in Korea who finds famous people eating in TV shows or movies entertaining.
From there, people began to grab their camera set and order mouth-watering meals as they turned on live streaming on AfreecaTV, Twitch, or Youtube and interacted with the audience. This practice is reported to be a tool to ease the feelings of loneliness associated with eating alone and instantly becomes the contributing reason for mukbang's popularity. Even though accompanied virtually, they felt a sense of connectivity as the viewers would suggest which food they should try first or which food to mix.
As of now, the search for mukbang content has reached over 100,000 searches on YouTube alone. This fact implies that the practice also opened up a path for content creators globally to dive into the sensational world of mukbang.
 Isak Munda first videos/ Foto: Youtube Isak Munda Eating |
In fact, in India, a farmer named Isak Munda has turned to mukbang as his source of living. When he first made his video, it didn't gain the attention he had hoped. But, his second video published in 2020, titled "India Odisha favorite basi pakhala bata eating." changed his life. People began to give Isak Munda exposure, and now, he has gained over 800k subscribers. "I thought viewers would be interested in seeing what our lives look like through food," he told BBC. Not only eating and cooking videos but Isak Munda has also been seen several times hosting the village eating party!
Derived from a culture mukbang has transformed from a coping mechanism to a promising career. How about you? Do you plan to try it out or are you one of those that prefer eating alone while a mukbang video plays on the back?
