NWANONYIRI: Mukbangs have gone too far
Mukbangs have become a widespread phenomenon in the past few years. Originally popularized by South Korean culture, the word "mukbang" translates to "eating broadcast." This means eating in front of a camera for viewers, sometimes pre-recorded and other times live-streamed.
Initially, these meals started out as normal portions sizes, but became unusually large. In South Korea, there is a very social eating culture. Mukbangs began in the early 2010s as live-streaming meals to promote companionship while dining. Over the years, the content has transformed into a lucrative business.
These food portions have grown to shocking amounts for one or two people to eat in front of a camera for money and views. Pizza, ramen, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Crumbl Cookies and every other junky fast food under the sun have tripled in size amongst the plates of content creators.
Normalizing these food portions can endorse overeating and unhealthy eating habits for viewers and even smaller creators, including Nicholas Perry.
Nicholas Perry, better known online as Nikocado Avocado, is a Ukrainian-American YouTube creator and the poster child for this kind of content. He initially used his platform to perform and discuss his vegan lifestyle.
Perry then denounced his vegan lifestyle in 2016, calling vegans "imbalanced, hostile, militant and mentally unstable." Shortly after, Perry fully immersed himself in the mukbang scene where he would devour copious amounts of fast food online.
Since then, Perry's subscriber count between all five of his channels has multiplied. Nikocado Avocado, Nikocado 2, Nikocado 3, More Nikocado and Noodle King also contain more content than him consuming food. As a vegan, Perry reached up to 50,000 subscribers, and as he transitioned to mukbangs he accumulated up to five million subscribers on his channels along with an estimated net worth between $2-$4 million.
Perry had previously addressed health issues he developed as a result of overeating professionally. He gained 200 lbs. over the years due to his overconsumption of food for content.
Like Perry, viewers can also be negatively affected by this popular entertainment genre. In a 2020 study, 32.6 percent of people who watched mukbang frequently indicated that it strongly influenced their health habits.
Mukbangs can also be very deceptive. If mukbangs are not recorded live, content creators can edit the footage to make it seem like the food is being eaten in one sitting. According to a 2020 study, viewers may not be aware of hosts' strategies, like fasting before a large meal, to reduce expected weight gain. Watching mukbangs can increase eating among viewers who have a history of binge and out-of-control eating.
On September 6th, Perry shocked many viewers and other creators in his YouTube video titled "Two Steps Ahead," where he appears to have a drastic weight loss and explains, "Today, I woke up from a very long dream, and I also woke up having lost 250 pounds off my body." The video, which has 46 million views and counting, reveals that Perry claimed to be partaking in "the greatest social experiment of (his) entire life."
Perry pre-recorded and spaced out publishing to focus on his weight loss, edited videos to seem recent and confided in other creators to keep his secret. Perry single-handedly transformed mukbangs from eating shows to elaborate schemes to confuse viewers.
With Nikocado Avocado, the more he ate, the more viewers he attracted. In contrast, smaller content creators such as dddong, whose YouTube channel is composed of short videos of her eating regular-sized food portions, have a significantly smaller platform than Perry.
Eventually, mukbangs became all about the views, which led one content creator to take things too far. On July 14, Pan Xiaoting, a 24-year-old binge-eating live-streamer from China, died while broadcasting a 10-hour food binge on cake, chicken fingers and seafood to thousands of her followers. The autopsy revealed that her stomach ripped open due to 22 lbs. of undigested food and stomach acid leaking into her abdomen.
Since its worldwide popularity, mukbangs have spun out of control, affecting the lives of content creators and viewers for the sake of views and attention. The more food a content creator consumes, the more people are likely to submit to watching their content. Whether the intention is for money, fame or food addiction, these food broadcasting rituals have helped encourage overconsumption.
Mukbangs may eventually reclaim their original purpose as social events and online entertainment, but, as of now, they remain a deadly practice that is continuing to destroy the lives of content creators today.
Uju Nwanonyiri is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in journalism & media studies and public health. Nwanonyiri’s column, “Debrief Discussions,” runs on alternate Thursdays.
*Columns, cartoons, letters and commentaries do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
YOUR VOICE | The Daily Targum welcomes submissions from all readers. Letters to the editor must be between 350 and 600 words. Commentaries must be between 600 and 900 words. All authors must include their name, phone number, class year and college affiliation or department to be considered for publication. Please submit via email to oped@dailytargum.com and eic@dailytargum.com to be considered for publication.
