The Mukbang Theory
A man appears onscreen. He has a medium build, is fairly handsome and from his lips spew Korean words in a manner quieter and calmer than most. For the first minute of this video, his eyes are fixated on an electric pan cooker — a couple more seconds, he indicates. Then, ding and he opens the top to reveal a marvelous pan half-filled with melting cheese, the other with tteokbboki (rice cakes) slathered in something bright-red and presumably spicy. Next to the cooker sits many more dishes of fried morsels. Unfazed by the exorbitant amount of food in front of him, he begins naming each one by jabbing his chopsticks at them. Twigim mandu (fried dumplings), kimari (deep fried seaweed spring rolls) and a bunch of other less intelligible names.
He takes his first bite, of the fried dumpling, but not before dipping it into the cheesy puddle. You can hear the crunch from the crisp batter and with every chew, an image of gooey cheese bouncing around in his mouth is conjured. It goes on for about 40 minutes, this young man speaking to his viewers while wolfing down more food than he looks capable of. As all of this goes down, the viewer count at the bottom right corner is shooting up erratically, hitting the thousands in no time. This is Korea’s nationwide phenomenon in a nutshell. This is, mukbang.
Muk What?
A mash up of Korean words muk-ja (it means eat) and bang-song (it means broadcast), mukbang loosely translates to ‘eating broadcast’. People who live stream themselves binging on inhumane amounts of food in muk bang are known as Broadcast Jockeys, or BJs (hold that laugh) and they make up to USD10,000 a month doing this! Oddly enough, they are paid by viewers who voluntarily send them ‘star balloons’, which are exchangeable on the streaming platform for cash. At this point you may be thinking why. Why would anyone in their right minds voluntarily pay someone to eat in front of a camera?
There could be a reason, singular to Korea’s culture. When you enter a restaurant alone in Seoul, a typical host will greet you with “How many?” and when you say “One,”, the puzzled reply of “Just one?” is almost inevitable. That’s the inherently social aspect of eating that has been weaved into Korea’s society, so much so that even the Korean word for ‘family’ means ‘ those who eat together’. A friend living in Korea once recounted that as she ate alone in a cafe, she felt incredibly unnerved watching fellow diners who were either couples or rowdy groups of friends. So perhaps these videos work in Korea because in a country where many live alone, it lends a feeling of solidarity and unlikely companionship. But will it work anywhere else? Afreeca TV, the video streaming service that hosts most existing Korean mukbang videos, has hinted at future plans of expanding to other countries and we couldn’t help but to prod at this possibility ourselves. Keep reading.
We interviewed 10 young Malaysian individuals to hear what they have to say about this seemingly banal yet wildly popular trend.
Have you heard of ‘mukbang’? Do you know what it is?
“Is it a type of food?”
“It’s a mamak dish!”
“Oh yes.”
“Apa tu?!” (What’s that?!)
“Don’t know, but it sounds gross.”
After we spent some time explaining what mukbang is, here’s what they thought of the concept.
Why do you think people enjoy watching other people eat?
“Because it makes them feel full from just watching. #TheNewDiet”
“No idea. I mean, I guess it’s a form of entertainment? Google ‘top 10 crazy japanese game shows that make no sense but funny to watch’ and you’ll find them even more absurd.”
“Maybe they’re deprived of food themselves?”
“Who doesn’t? It’s especially enjoyable to watch people eat when you’re eating yourself. It probably triggers your appetite and makes food taste better.”
“Because they are happy that someone appreciates food as much as them. And probably because some people cannot eat alone. (Totally not because we are weird)”
“I suppose it is seeing someone enjoy food that we can’t eat. Allows us to live vicariously through others.”
Do you think mukbang would work in Malaysia?
“Depends. I think we like food a lot. But it’s also mildly creepy.”
“Only if the person doing it is already famous.”
“I don’t think so, Malaysians eat very differently.”
“NOPE!”
“Yes, probably. With the variety of food we have to showcase. Gotta be the right person doing it though.”
BJs (broadcast jockeys in mukbang) make thousands for eating in front of the camera. What do you think of that?
“Unjustifiable but then again, they’re risking it all — health and money to buy and eat all that food.”
“Hahaha people can make money off anything they want.”
“It’s a good way of making money, if you like to eat.”
“It seems like a pretty easy way to make money eh? But I’m sure it is no easy feat.”
“I think they’re kind of like providing some sort of service. People pay for service.”
“I think it’s incredible that they get paid to eat. It’s like getting paid to live.”
Have you learned anything about Korean food from watching mukbang (if you have)?
“I learn about Korean food from my Korean drama lah haha.”
“I did. Learnt a lot about the food culture in Korea and what kind of restaurants to go for which kind of food. Some BJs tell you that.”
“You do get to know names of dishes in Korean and also how it should be eaten. I finally got to know that the black bean sauce noodles are called jjajangmyeon — so good.”
Mukbang’s success may sound like a result of short-lived hype, but our interviewees make some good points. Watching someone else eat happily with much less restraint that we pose on ourselves is strangely liberating, even if it is a little creepy. My mukbang experience began with a few friends out of curiosity. While the BJ ate, we found ourselves latched onto finding out what exactly it was he put into his mouth. Was it fried chicken, beneath that fiery red glaze? Is that metal bowl what I think it is — naengmyeon (cold noodles)? But he just said jjajangmyeon! There’s nothing black on that table! (That has got to be the most futile argument we’ve had in our friendship). We held our breaths as he spoke with his mouth full and at the end of the video, eventhough we failed to keep track of all those food names, we knew that we’d eventually stumble into those noodles at a Korean restaurant, and order it. And maybe take a picture of it to prove my friend wrong. Well.. that’s the romanticised version. In reality, I just Googled jjajangmyeon to prove him wrong on the spot.
Beyond barbecues and fried chicken, Korean food is still an unfamiliar subject to many. But with some mukbang, we might just see a day when a plate of gopchang bokkum arrives at the table and no one disputes that those little squiggly things are stir-fried intestine sausages. Because whether we know it or not, there is likely someone halfway across the world watching it who will learn that Korean food is not just kimchi and that, man, petite Korean girls can eat!
Sate your cravings for Korean food after a few mukbang videos with Burpple’s Guide to Best Korean Food in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur!
