Have you ever been scrolling through TikTok at 3 a.m. and you come across a video or a live of someone eating … seems harmless, right? Sure, the person could be eating and providing commentary or telling a story, but deep down there are questions that sit in my mind when watching these content creators show me a 30-minute chewing session. For instance, do they eat all this food, or do they spit it out? Is this overconsumption? How does this lifestyle affect these content creators? In this article, I will be providing commentary on mukbangs. I will be breaking this article into four sections: eating shows, content, eating disorders and death rates.

Eating shows:  

A mukbang is a video, especially one that is livestreamed, that features a person eating a large quantity of food while addressing the audience. Originating in South Korea in the 2000s, mukbangs skyrocketed in popularity in the 2010s. I vividly remember that the big mukbang creators I saw on YouTube were HunniBee ASMR, SAS-ASMR, Stephanie Soo and Zac Choi — honorable mention Nikocado Avocado. When I first fell into the rabbit hole of mukbangs, I was curious; the food looked appealing, and the story and content seemed mildly entertaining. It wasn’t until maybe 2017-2018 when the mukbang community began to get caught up in drama. This is interesting, because how is it that people who eat for a living are beefing — no pun intended — over whatever it may be? It just seemed like a filler for content since eating and story times can only work if they’re imbedded into your brand. Since TikTok has gained popularity as one of the main apps for watching mukbangs and clips, YouTube views have decreased, mainly because mukbangers have brought their content to TikTok, where it has more users to interact with. 

Mukbang content: 

In the mukbang community, you can find a plethora of different food being eaten for entertainment. The most popular foods I see include seafood boils, spicy noodles, fried chicken and hamburgers. While all those things are yummy to eat, I personally can only eat the spicy noodles because I’m vegetarian, but they are aesthetically pleasing to look at. When I’m on Tiktok, I see that basic content, but with the popularity spike of candied fruit, or tanghulu, creators have begun to candy anything for a crunch. The newest trends I have seen are people dressing up the food to be both sweet and savory or just savory by adding sugary coatings or spicy chips such as “Hot Cheetos” to the foods.  I once saw a candied Chipotle burrito and candied fried chicken, and, you know, it gets to a point where the food loses its appeal. I also came across a video on reels of a lady making a fried oatmeal creme pie burger with cheese and sour cream. Another thing I see is people doing too much to the food: for example, a Chipotle bowl with extra everything. I like sour cream, but I don’t like sour cream to the extent of it falling out of my Chipotle bowl. It makes the food look sloppy and less appetizing. The reason food and social media work so well together is because the food looks appetizing to the viewer’s eye; this is sometimes called “foodporn.” Some creators have made almost parody-like content called “water mukbangs,” and those are refreshing especially after seeing pure slop on a screen. 

Eating disorders: 

This is a sensitive topic, so viewer discretion is advised. 

An eating disorder is any disorder characterized primarily by a pathological disturbance of attitudes and behaviors related to food. I feel comfortable enough to share my truth of having multiple EDs at one time. I used to be on both ends of the spectrum, from binge eating to starving myself. My relationship with food is complicated for sure, but now I’m more comfortable with eating and taking care of my needs, but when I was in my peak eating disorder, seeing mukbangs definitely put me in between a rock and a hard place. One side of my heart wanted the food because it looked so delectable, but my mind was disgusted and the negative thoughts within my head convinced me that all those calories, even if it was one thing off the spread, would make me fat. The way I look at food has changed since then because I have curated my For You page to my liking. I don’t like watching people eat gluttonous amounts of food and seeing them get tired after; it’s not enjoyable for me. I do enjoy watching ED recovery videos and videos of people just eating and preparing regular meals. It’s more relatable to me and gives me a sense of hope; it’s hard to get out of the ED mindset but it is possible to escape. These videos give me insight and hope for others on their healthy journey with food. 

Death rates: 

For content creators, eating shows can be a money outlet, but at what price? These content creators eat thousands of calories in one sitting, which is very unhealthy. While some have healthy eating habits, like dieting and exercise, outside of the eating shows, some do not. In 2024, it was reported that a Chinese content creator by the name of Pan Xiaoting passed away during a 10-hour eating show. It was reported that she consumed 22 pounds of food, and her stomach ripped open due to undigested food in her stomach. According to Daily Mail, “allegedly her stomach could have burst, causing stomach acid and food to leak into her abdomen.” This is the worst-case scenario when it comes to binge eating and content creation. She lost her life not only because of binge eating but also because she was morbidly obese. In the West, we saw how Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado, had major lifestyle and weight changes as his million-dollar mukbang career progressed. From his earlier videos on YouTube, he led a very healthy lifestyle before becoming one of the top mukbang superstars. I saw that when he began overeating and gaining weight; his behavior was more erratic, and it put a strain on his relationship with his partner at the time. I say all this to say that binge eating, as I stated before, can be a cash cow, but it can also cause major health problems. According to healthline.com, overeating can result in chronic health issues and excess body fat and may impair brain function. That alone should make the mukbang community speak out about how eating these mass amounts of food in one sitting is not healthy and is weighing on their health. 

All in all, I hope that Western creators wake up for their lives and realize how excessive food binging is negatively affecting not only their health but their expensive Gucci belts. I’d rather watch people cook for themselves and eat healthily to their standards than indulge themselves in fast food smothered in cheese or sugar. The West needs to realize this: You should not sacrifice your health for the incline of money, entertainment and fame. Truly, nothing lasts forever, and neither will this trend.