Mukbang: The New Wave Food Anthem

Food has become, now more than ever, a major part of the media culture. A lot of us are constantly viewing or engaging in the dialogue of food through media like cook shows, food blogs, Instagram and other such online forums that primarily share recipes, pictures of exciting or exotic dishes, emphasize on health and nutrition, or review restaurants. Whereas, Mukbang, a fairly recent online trend that originated in contemporary Korea adds a whole new dimension to food culture in media.

What is Mukbang?

The etymology of Mukbang comes from the combination of the Korean words meokneun (eating) and bangsong (broadcast).

In Mukbang, a person (the host) eats large quantity of food in front of a webcam, either by live streaming it or pre-recording it while interacting with their audience. It usually involves detailed sounds of the host eating the food, usually dramatically and performatively in an attempt to stimulate the viewer’s senses. A good number of viewers in Korea as well as other parts of the world (increasing rapidly) are addicted to watching these Vloggers and broadcasting jockeys (BJs) and are even paying them if they like their content.

Eating companion:

The interaction between the hosts and their viewers creates a virtual bond that gives them a sense of belonging to an online community. For Simmel, as pointed out by Symons (1994),in order to share a society, people must share their lowest drives and interest of that of hunger and thirst. Physiological sharing, according to Simmel as mentioned by Symons (1994), is the common basis for cultural and social sharing. The very universality of basic needs (food) bring people closer more firmly than other higher spiritual motives (Symons, 1994). So, food plays a role in forming social bonds. The increasing number of single person household in Korea makes it difficult to form such bonds.As mentioned by Hong and Park(2017), “According to 2015 population statistics, there are about 5.2 million single-person households; this accounts for 27 per cent of all households and is the first household type to surpass the traditional four- or three-person household.” The interactive feature of mukbang compensates for the sentimental hunger of social bonds as more and more individuals spend meal time alone.

Mukbang aesthetics:

The first time I watched Mukbang, I was fascinated by how the Vloggers and Bjs transgress the conventional norms on food consumption as well as traditional (Korean) food etiquettes.

The discourse on food is dominantly based on nutrition and health. From a functional perspective, we eat food because it provides us with the nutrition we need. In Mukbang, one can see that it clearly disconnects itself from viewing food as a nutrition provider and instead sees eating as an act of pure gratification. The type of food in Mukbang usually contains high amount of calorie and the portion of food is enormous. They encourage their viewers to enjoy instant meals, junk food, and those that are easily available at any convenience store. The increasing pace of a modern life and the increasing number of single house-hold makes ready-to-eat food more appealing and convenient.

The world is divided into two kinds of people- those who love Mukbang and those who are repelled by it. One of the common reasons people get repelled by it is the nature of the table manners displayed in Mukbang. Since the primary objective of Mukbang is to keep their viewers entertained, the mundane act of eating is performed by sometimes being ludic in their expressions and eating styles. The food is devoured sloppily and the sound of them eating is emphasized in order to stimulate their viewers’ senses. They sometimes buy specialized instruments like a good microphone to highlight the sounds better. The satisfaction people experience by watching and listening to these sounds is due to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response- ASMR which is also known as brain tingle. The host also talks to their viewers while chewing their food. While this works for the viewers and fans, it might not have the same effect on others.

While junk food and other food with high calorie content are very addictive, they are also looked down upon as they are considered unhealthy and do not necessarily help achieve the socially demanding standard of a slender body. Watching the Vloggers and BJs indulge in these very foods in such large quantity makes it a guilty pleasure for the viewers.

Mukbang re-shaping hegemonic practices of food in Media:

Food in media as mentioned before has always revolved around fancy food by famous chefs, cooking shows, exotic food, gourmet food, recipes and health and nutritional shows. But as mukbang is gaining popularity, more and more TV shows are adopting the ethics and aesthetics of mukbang not by replicating it but by adapting its features by negotiating with the conventional food norms in media. Some Korean Drama series have also included scenes that portray the aesthetics of mukbang catalyzing the change in hegemonic food culture. Earlier, the excellence of the food was based on taste, elaborate recipes, professionalism of the chef and the presentation. Now, all that matter is the satisfaction of the eater. Therefore, the hegemony of judging the food is slowly shifting from top chefs to ordinary Mukbang-ers (Hong and Park 2017).

Even if Mukbang may not have strong arguments against the discourse on nutrition and may not have the sophistication and warmth of a traditional family meal time atmosphere, it is certainly gaining popularity. The strong influence of social media in contemporary time as well as the communication style of Mukbang that resonate with the youth who live in a modern fast paced society and the ethics that contradict the conventional food culture may just potentially result in the rise of a youth subculture within the internet. (ibid)

By the end of it, it is fascinating to see one individual vicariously eating a large quantity of food that sometimes equals to about ten thousand calories or more in one seating while most of us are in the habit of policing our own diets.

Written by:

Vatsala N,

Anthropology-Sociology, 

Batch of 2018.

References:

Michael Symons (1994) Simmel's gastronomic sociology: An overlooked essay, Food and Foodways:

Hong and Park (2017)  InternetMukbang(Foodcasting) in South Korea.YOUNG & CREATIVE Digital Technologies Empowering Children in Everyday Life. Retrieved from http://findresearcher.sdu.dk/portal/files/135013577/pub_nordicom_young_creative_0118.pdf