Mukbang

• 1. Introduction

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  Mukbang is an online broadcast in which a host eats on camera while an audience watches, chats and reacts. An early echo of the idea appears in a 1982 Danish film, 66 Scenes from America. In one scene, the artist Andy Warhol eats a Whopper from the fast food chain Burger King. That is the whole act: one famous man and one hamburger in front of a lens. Decades later, a whole online genre would be built on far larger meals. Why would anyone watch a stranger eat? Where did the habit come from, and who gets paid for it? And why have governments in several countries moved to rein it in?

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• 2. Seoul's Screen Table

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  In 2009, the real-time internet TV service AfreecaTV first carried what is now called mukbang. The word is a clipped blend of two Korean terms, one for eating and one for broadcast. Written 먹방 and pronounced meokbang, it describes exactly what happens on screen.

  Before the 21st century, Korea was known for a food culture built on healthy eating practices and strict Confucian etiquette. From the late 2000s, a new internet eating culture grew up beside it. It soon became a trend on cable channels and terrestrial broadcasting.

  Broadcasters had a practical reason to like it. Eating and cooking shows cost less to produce than reality entertainment programs. The format also puts the spotlight on how attractive the person preparing the food is.

  Academics have looked for a deeper cause. They link the rise of mukbang to widespread anxiety, loneliness and unhappiness among many South Koreans, driven by the hyper-competitive nature of the country's economy and society. In their view, the broadcasts give viewers a way to ease some of that strain.

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• 3. The Virtual Table

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  In the United Kingdom, 15% of viewers report that they have not shared a meal with family in over six months. That figure helps explain why mukbang is described as a virtual social dining experience. It offers companionship to isolated people who want to feel connected through a shared meal. It also stands in sharp contrast to the traditional Korean habit of eating from communal dishes at the family dinner table.

  In Korea, people who stream mukbang are called broadcast jockeys, or BJs. The chat room is where the closeness is built. In one broadcast, a BJ named Changhyun paused to follow a fan's directions about what to eat next and how to eat it. Viewers can steer the stream, but the BJ keeps control of what actually goes into his or her mouth.

  Some BJs go further with a technique researchers compare to ventriloquism. They mime the actions of fans by aiming food at the camera in a feeding motion and then eating it themselves. The effect is an illusion that everyone is sitting in one room.

  A study by Seoul National University counted the word mukbang in over 100,000 YouTube videos between April 2017 and April 2019. Its authors reported that easing the loneliness of eating alone may be the main reason for the genre's popularity. Other studies point to entertainment, escape from reality, or the pleasure of ASMR, meaning the sounds and sensations of eating. Researchers have also argued that some viewers are drawn by a sexualized gaze at hosts in such a private, intimate state.

  Watching often creates a parasocial bond between mukbanger and viewer, and it may make viewers more likely to dine alone. A pilot study from February 2022 laid the groundwork for asking whether virtual eating can harm people who use it in place of real social life.

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• 4. Beyond Korea

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  In July 2016, the video game streaming service Twitch began trialing a dedicated category called social eating. The reason was local habit. South Korean gamers had sometimes broadcast mukbang as breaks during their longer streams, and the practice proved popular. A Twitch representative said the category was not specific to mukbang, and streamers could interpret it within the guidelines.

  A mukbang can be prerecorded or streamed live. Hosts use platforms such as Soop, as AfreecaTV is now called, along with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch. One popular sub-genre is the cook-bang, in which the streamer also prepares and cooks the dishes. Foods range from pizza to noodles, and some shows introduce viewers to regional specialties or gourmet spots.

  The trend soon crossed borders. Articles about it appeared in The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The term itself spread to other eating shows, including ASMR videos on YouTube. In Japan and China the genre took hold quickly. In China it is called chibo, and hosts turn it into short videos and vlogs for platforms like Weibo.

  Eastern Europe offers a recent measurement. YouTube searches for mukbang there rose steadily between 2020 and 2025. Russia, Romania and Hungary led on trend score, while Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova and Slovakia showed the biggest relative increases. The top two search categories were ASMR and general mukbang, while Korean cuisine ranked low. That suggests viewers there embraced the sensory style more than the Korean origin. Researchers offered several possible reasons, including an 18% rise in single-person households between 2015 and 2024.

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• 5. Paying the Host

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  The top broadcasters can earn as much as $10,000 a month from advertising alone, before any sponsorships. Live-streaming platforms such as AfreecaTV and Twitch also let viewers send payments directly to their favorite streamers. For many young South Koreans, that made mukbang a serious alternative career with the potential for a high income.

  Other income streams include endorsements, e-books and product reviews. Bethany Gaskin, who runs her channel under the name Bloveslife, has made over $1 million from advertising on her videos, according to The New York Times. Soo Tang, known as MommyTang, claimed that successful mukbangers can earn about $100,000 in a year.

  These rewards come with an incentive to eat more, and to eat on a bigger scale, in front of a growing audience. What that does to the people on both sides of the screen became the next big question.

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• 6. The Cost To Viewers

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  In 2019, the Ukrainian-born American mukbanger Nicholas Perry, known as Nikocado Avocado, said that the binge eating behind his videos had taken a toll on his health. He listed erectile dysfunction, frequent diarrhea, sleep apnea, mobility problems and weight gain.

  Viewers face risks too. In a survey of 380 non-nutrition majors at a university in Gyeonggi Province, 29.1% of frequent mukbang watchers diagnosed themselves with negative habits. Examples included eating more processed and delivered food, or eating out more often. A 2021 study found that problematic mukbang watching was positively associated with both eating disorders and internet addiction.

  Mental health findings are similar. A study of Korean adults aged 20-64 linked moderate or frequent viewing, meaning one or two times a week, or three or more, to moderate depression. Frequent viewing was tied to severe symptoms. The pattern held across gender, age group, drinking status and frequency of binge eating.

  A close cousin, the sulbang, shows eating alongside alcohol and can be watched by anyone, including minors. One study found a solid relationship between exposure to mukbang or cookbang and adolescent alcohol use. The link was stronger among adolescents who were female, from lower economic backgrounds, or overweight.

  Body image is less clear. Some studies tie frequent viewing to poorer body image, while others report results that depend on context. Researchers suggest social comparison may play a part, though they say more research is needed.

  One analysis of popular YouTube videos found many viewer comments marveling that hosts stay thin. Commenters credited intense exercise, a fast metabolism, or the host's Asian ethnicity. The same analysis noted hosts who faced fat shaming and speculation that thinner hosts purge off camera.

  Some researchers see benefits as well. They suggest mukbang can relieve stress, and can help people on bland diets enjoy taste without unhealthy additives. It may even help stimulate food intake in people with anorexia nervosa.

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• 7. Staged Appetite

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  In 2020, the South Korean mukbanger Moon Bok Hee, from the channel Eat With Boki, was criticized after viewers noticed dubious editing in her videos. The accusation was that she spat out food. Some mukbangers reportedly chew and spit to avoid weight gain and health risks, then edit out the spitting. The result is a false impression that a huge volume of food was eaten.

  India's biggest mukbanger offered a different explanation in 2023. Ashifa, known as Ashifa ASMR, said the food in her videos cannot be eaten all at once. She eats it over several sittings and edits the clips into one continuous video. She added that her disclaimers warn viewers against copying what they see.

  Excess is also an issue off the plate. Large amounts of food can be consumed or wasted while videos are made.

  Animal welfare is another charge. The streamer Ssoyoung has been accused of causing excess harm to live sea creatures, including fish, sharks, crabs, squid and octopuses. In one video, she poured table salt onto a basin of live eels. In another, squid doused in soy sauce were seen moving. That movement may have been involuntary, caused by salt interacting with the nerves of dead squid.

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• 8. Bans and Backlash

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  In July 2018, South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the National Obesity Management Comprehensive Measures. They were meant to address binge eating and public health harm linked to mukbang, and included plans for guidelines. Critics pushed back hard. The Blue House petition board received about 40 petitions against regulation. They argued that there is no correlation between mukbang and binge eating, and that the government was infringing on individual freedom.

  China moved more forcefully. In 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping launched the Clean Plate campaign, urging the nation to guard against food waste. State-run outlets such as CCTV ran reports critical of mukbangers. Users on several Chinese apps received warnings about their mukbang posts and faced floods of negative comments. Douyin promised stricter verification of food videos, while Bilibili and Kuaishou encouraged people not to waste food.

  In 2021, China passed an anti-food waste law that bans streaming, filming or sharing mukbang videos. Xi called such waste a distressing problem that threatens the country's food security. TV stations and media houses that broadcast them faced fines of up to $16,000.

  In 2024, the Philippine Department of Health considered a ban after the death of a content creator in Iligan City from a stroke. He was the mukbang vlogger Dongz Apatan. The proposal was later reduced to a regulation. Creators would be asked to base their videos on the healthier Pinggang Pinoy food guide, rather than facing limits on their freedom of speech and expression.

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