By Helen Sandoval Contributor
I’m sure you’ve stumbled upon video clips on social media of people doing the “spicy-noodle challenge” or the “Hot Cheeto challenge.” Nowadays, unusual trends are starting to become the norm and one very interesting trend going on are mukbang.
Most of you probably haven’t heard of mukbang, but maybe you’re a fan of mukbang and have seen videos of people eating enormous amounts of food on YouTube.
This new phenomenon originated in South Korea and the trend has made its way to America. Tand thousands of people across the world have also joined the mukbang trend.
The concept of mukbang may sound strange to some, but it’s the same as watching your favorite YouTuber do makeup tutorial or watching people cook on Food Network. We all have those days where we sit for hours and continuously watch food shows because we’re hungry. That’s exactly what mukbang are for.
If you search the word “mukbang” on YouTube, thousands of videos will pop up. There are videos of people eating exotic foods and there’s even autonomous sensory meridian response mukbang, which is when a person whispers and eats their food very closely to a mic.
Many viewers find these videos helpful in minimizing their cravings for certain foods. Let’s say you’re craving donuts, but you don’t want to drive to a doughnut shop or you’re on a diet. You can search up “mukbang doughnuts” and easily find hundreds of videos of people eating large amounts of doughnut to satisfy your cravings.
These mukbang videos are not only satisfying to watch, but some feel connected to these YouTubers. There are many kinds of mukbang videos, ranging from funny videos, some who tell their life stories and some who are in complete silence during their video streams. Many viewers love their videos and beg for more posts.
Here’s a small list of the many popular mukbang video creators on YouTube: Keemi, eat with CHUNKY, MommyTang, Ddeong-gae and Banzz.
Viewer discretion is advised because mukbang aren’t for everyone. If you get easily annoyed or grossed out by the way people eat or chew, then mukbang are definitely not for you.
