Some people work in banks, hotels or as engineers, doctors, architects... Others, get paid to eat large meals in front of a webcam for a live-streaming broadcast. Yes, it's a real thing. It's a well-known trend in Korea called MUKBANG!!!
The top Mukbang earners can earn as much as $10,000 a month by some accounts, not including sponsorships. The oddest part of their payment structure is that it's not pay-per-view, ad-based, or salary-based. Rather, ordinary viewers voluntarily send their favorite Mukbang artists, money in the form of "star balloons"-a type of proprietary virtual currency that can be bought and sold with regular fiat cash.
What's the appeal?
It might make more sense if the broadcasts were, for example, of a competitive eating event in which someone eats 97 hamburgers. But Mukbang is not even that. Sure, the volumes of food consumed in a typical Mukbang broadcast are pretty alarming. One of the most popular Mukbang artists is a middle school-aged boy calling himself BJ Patoo; he devotes an episode to eating five packets of ramen, all cooked together in one pot. Spoiler alert: He doesn't even finish, giving up after 18 minutes.
What's the real reason behind this weird trend?!
Basically people watch them because they are lonely and want to eat with someone else through the computer. However, while some fans do appear to crave the company of eating with someone else, if only virtually, others seem to be using the videos as a way to change their own relationships to food. Some use the videos to stimulate their appetites, and others as a dieting tool. The hosts, after all, are effectively binge-eating on camera, and it appears to have drawn in people with eating issues who are looking for a place to talk about them.
Koreans find it more as an entertainment, Whereas Americans use it for their eating disorder so they watch Mukbang to help them induce cravings. On another note, some watch them to help them stop craving.
Mukbang may leave us with questions, but at least now we know where to tune in when we need some company while we ponder the complications of living on the internet over a late night bowl of ramen.
Here's a short clip of how a Mukbang Artist quit her job as a consultant to work this full- time!
