Author: Sunny Li
Editors: Kevin Yao, Ian Cho
Artist: Jade Li
Tray upon tray slathered in gochujang. The amplified sound of smacking lips reverberates through the microphone. A singular figure smothered by Greek pillars of cakes, seafood, or fast food. Such is the plot of the generic mukbang video, a South Korean trend where content creators film videos of eating excessive amounts of junk food while talking about their everyday lives. Earning up to $10,000 per month, these “mukbangers” appeal specifically to young adults who live in an internet-centric world characterized by loneliness, parasocial relationships, and escapism from real-world issues. While mukbang videos may alleviate these pains, research has suggested that they not only encourage internet addiction but also exacerbate pre-existing health issues like eating disorders. While there is a distinction between recreationally and obsessively interacting with mukbang creators, these behaviors can quickly develop into self-destructive social, food, and sexual habits, all of which result from internet dependency.
Mukbang videos are a subgenre of communal eating, which was shown to correlate positively with social well-being and a sense of belonging. In a study by the University of Oxford, people who eat more socially tend to have more expansive, supportive emotional support systems. Additionally, 75% of participants noted that communal eating best strengthened social bonds. In an era with unprecedentedly high rates of loneliness — researchers discovered that time spent socially deprived increased by 24 hours per month between 2003 and 2020, and there was also a 20 hours per month decrease in socializing time — exacerbated by the Coronavirus lockdown, mukbang videos are an attractive means to bridge this social gap.
However, this connection between viewer and content creator is superficial at best and is not an adequate replacement for in-person interaction. A parasocial relationship — especially since mukbangers will often share their personal lives, building this closeness — problematically encourages internet dependency. The compensatory internet use model claims that those who successfully satiate their offline needs via online methods will more often engage with said content. And, because these videos fail to meaningfully fulfill these deprivations, they mislead the viewer into believing that they have satisfied these needs while simultaneously contributing to their deficiencies. A sparse mukbang-watching routine is therefore especially prone to turning into an addiction.
Vicarious satiation, which satisfies one’s appetite by watching others eat, proposes another factor for mukbang obsession. The videos, which display a gaudy amount of foodstuff, contribute to a “magical eating fantasy” that the viewers can’t experience. However, for those with disordered eating, vicarious eating encourages food restriction. Not only do the videos lessen food’s enjoyment for somebody — either due to the unappetizing overconsumption in them, or due to desensitization via sensory overload — thereby validating their disordered eating, but they also temporarily stave off the psycho-emotional need to eat. According to Madeline C., who previously struggled with anorexia nervosa, “mukbangs worked even better [to curb my hunger]. It would satisfy cravings that were impossible to fulfill unless I did the one thing that would put me into an anxiety spiral: Eat.” Madeline is not alone. She mentions “see[ing] a My Pro Ana forum titled, ‘Is anyone else obsessed with watching mukbangs?’, and similar posts on Tumblr and other platforms.” My Pro Ana’s interest in mukbangs, a movement that romanticizes anorexia and similar eating disorders, highlights this fantastical yet damaging side to vicarious satiation.
Although inadvertently, according to a 2018 study, mukbang videos potentially fall prey to upholding objectifying fetishizations of women. The foodstuff content lends itself to sexual undertones, especially when the ideas of “food” and “sex” are highly intertwined in Chinese culture. For one, Kang et al. surveyed 261 Chinese participants — a particularly large market for mukbang content — and measured a positive correlation between food needs and sexual needs. A similar study by Donnar found that thin and conventionally attractive creators had a primarily male, overweight demographic. Like Kang, he proposed that these viewers will more often sexualize female mukbangers due to the personal, vulnerable content of the videos, especially when considered in an Asian cultural context: one that shames large appetites and preaches skinniness. This social inversion contributes to the male fetishization of women’s bodies for consumerist wants, as they need to stay skinny despite their excessive eating habits or risk losing their fanbase.
The mukbang genre is not inherently problematic. Rather, the videos are vulnerable to becoming a medium where viewers can project and affirm their pernicious beliefs, which range from social, food, or sexual deprivation. To rely entirely on the internet as a support system means tunnel-visioning oneself to one’s positive and negative beliefs. Just as mukbangers teeter between food fantasy and an unappetizing display of gluttony, viewers must find a middle ground and mindfully interact with online content — mukbang video or not — to circumvent such an addictive, self-sabotaging rabbit hole.
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