5 Reasons Why Mukbangs Are Rising In Popularity [2022]

Tired of keeping up with pop culture trends? We know, every day it seems like there’s something new. But what seems to be gaining and maintaining a lot of popularity is mukbang!

You may be wondering, what the heck is mukbang? Mukbang is an eating broadcast that originated in South Korea. The word is a combination of two words, also known as a portmanteau! ‘‘Meogneun’ in Korean translates to ‘eating’ and ‘bangsong’ to ‘broadcast’, thus creating the amalgamation, mukbang, which translates to ‘broadcasted eating’ in English. You can literally binge watch people chewing, slurping, and chomping on large amounts of food. Let’s dive right in to figure out why mukbang is becoming so popular!

Quarantine

We all know how being in quarantine took a toll on us as a society. Everyone was trying to figure out what to do in their spare time which led to more internet usage worldwide. People were trying to find new hobbies, like learning new recipes, decluttering, exercising, and spending time with family. During this time, influencers started flooding our social media with home-cooked mukbang videos. People became intrigued by what others were eating with the variety of cuisines within their culture. This also opened the door for people to try new dishes like squid, ramen, and new fast food chain restaurants.

Wanting company

With the world being isolated for a certain amount of time during the Coronavirus pandemic some single people began to feel lonely. They would find comfort in watching mukbang videos while eating. It would give humans the impression that they are eating together while eating their food and watching mukbangs. People also felt closer to influencers doing mukbangs since they would speak about trending topics in pop culture and controversial topics. This had a positive impact on the viewer and made them feel like they belong to a virtual community. Something that people might have been missing out on during this time. 

Autonomous Sensory Motor Response (ASMR)

The idea of watching and hearing someone eat tons and tons of food on camera, has been a huge viral trend in today’s world. With the combination of mukbangs and ASMRs, it has been easy for viewers to binge these videos all day long. ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Motor Response and those who experience this sensation claim to receive vast pleasure from watching and listening to regular habits such as whispering, typing, chewing, and much more! Mukbang takes ASMR to a new level by not only tending to viewers that enjoy watching ASMR videos, but also for viewers that enjoy seeing people eat A LOT of yummy food! On mukbang ASMR videos you’ll see some of your favorite influencers chewing, slurping, and crunching on a huge amount of food from home-cooked meals to your local fast food restaurants.

Make money

Getting shoutouts from huge celebrities isn’t the only thing that keeps these mukbangers going! Getting monetized on YouTube is definitely a factor when it comes to making mukbang videos. Just in case you didn’t know, YouTube channels that are monetized can take a share of the ad revenue generated by views. Meaning if you have over half a million loyal subscribers watching your videos, you can make a decent amount of money from making mukbang videos! Professional mukbangers in Korea can earn up to $10,000 a month! This is not even including their sponsorships from various food and drink brands. To clarify this is not limited to YouTube, mukbangers can also broadcast and get monetized through Twitch and other streaming platforms.

Mukbangs are very interesting to watch and can be beneficial to some people. With it starting in South Korea in 2010 it has come a long way. It has helped people with loneliness during quarantine in 2020 and created a source of income for mukbangers. It is only becoming more popular as time goes on. Grab some food, your camera and get to filming! Who’s ready to watch a challenge?