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It was Shakespeare who once wrote in one of his most celebrated plays, ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women are merely players’. As eager eyes glue to screens across social media platforms, they seek the spice factor they themselves lack in their lives. They are forced into the realities of those who live for 16:9 screens, where they are performative and largely edited. Mukbangers have taken the internet by storm, penetrating food cultures and providing comfort to many. However, in the digital world, screens and technology have disrupted this sense of community. But what happens when food and the intimate enjoyment of it become a medium for content production? How does that leak into real-time experiences? This article talks about the commodification of identity on social media and how mukbangers package a reality of false experiences, offering them to us in a buffet.

Where it all began...

‘Mukbang’ is a term that originated in South Korea, as a form of online audio-visual broadcast depicting people enjoying their favorite meals on camera. Mukbang is made of two words, ‘Muk-Ja’ (meaning eating) and Bang-song (broadcast). It all started in 2009 when people began to livestream their eating. These shows focused on ‘eating’ and eating in a manner to make the food they ate look extremely appetizing; as opposed to their western counterparts, which focused on cooking. As the phenomenon grew, it drew more and more people towards it. It became a common market for influencers to ‘niche’ out and create a new market, where mukbang became common lingo and celebrities started calling themselves ‘Mukbangers’. It was more than just the food; it was, in fact, their charisma and online persona that drove people towards this wave. While it was on its way to becoming a global phenomenon, each country with its unique cuisines and eating habits adapted to it.

What draws us to Mukbang content?

Don’t we all love to watch someone finish a 12-inch pizza, a chicken slider, and drinks while we unwind for the day or as we eat? The meat of the matter is, people like seeing other people eat. It serves as a vicarious form of enjoyment of foods they otherwise wouldn’t be able to enjoy in those quantities or portion sizes. A Reddit user in a mukbang videos thread once wrote, “I was curious to know why my mom loves to watch mukbang videos. Later, I found out that her lack of appetite is due to her liver cancer, and these videos inspire her to at least enjoy the meals she has to eat to survive”. This post quite rings to the emotional appeal of this phenomenon.

Virtual companionship at dinner time is what, in the first place, makes mukbang culture so entirely appealing. Second is the audio-visual experience, a sensory calming balm packaged through ASMR-like content. Some influencers eat in silence, others prefer the use of audio in a way to stimulate our senses. Some influencers use ‘First bite’ as a way to pull people directly into the screen, making them feel as though they are eating ‘with them’ and not just watching them eat.

The problem with Mukbang videos

It is commonly agreed upon by the most prolific of thinkers that most of our life is lived the social life, one that is bound to societal definitions. However, social life isn't necessarily the truest representation of who we are. And it boils down to authenticity. An IT professional working in Bombay points to how we, as passive consumers of content, latch on to whatever gets thrown our way. “I don’t get why people latch on to these trends, having their own lives deeply impacted by them”.

Are our identities being packaged into commodities that can be easily traded by systems we can barely touch?

Mukbangers are often physically fit, and this makes it even more intriguing to people who watch. They question what may be wrong with their own lifestyles, as they cannot enjoy the same foods and are told that moderation is a virtue. Sherry Turkle, an American sociologist, in an interview with UC Berkeley on 'Identity in the cyber world’ discussed the changes computers and technology underwent, as it moved from predictable devices that we knew how we could use, to ones that were almost opaque and black boxed. Devices and algorithms that we once controlled are now unwittingly controlling us, and it isn’t just a one-way street. For viewers of mukbang content, the algorithms dictate what they see, and their favourite mukbangers as their virtual companions. The attraction and appeal are, however, one-sided. The love and energy are reciprocated, until they follow their favorite creators, buy their products, or go to the restaurants they order from. People are drawn to not only them, but also the people whom they would otherwise follow, and the more they find their type of content, the longer they spend on the app, making it especially good for algorithms. It eventually becomes a vicious cycle. Mukbangers aren't exempt from this feeling. Unbeknownst to them, it is more so a performative side of theirs that they have to turn on, while their true selves hide behind the screen, pushed into a noiseless vacuum. Their identities are dictated by opaque systems. Both the consumer and the creator face a kind of problem that no one can save them from, one of their identities being shaped and dictated by opaque systems. It is not only the tangible products that are being commodified, but experiences are also sold as commodities.

Food wastage: The Ethical concern

This is a pressing concern. Given that mukbang eating is loud as opposed to quiet, there is a lot of food that mukbangers keep on their table, which some people find disgusting and unpalatable to see. The health hazards are real, from anorexia to bulimia to mental health concerns, and at both ends, mukbangers as well as consumers of such content.

Food that could feed 10 people is set to be finished by a person in front of a screen, with no visible health concerns. So the million-dollar question is, Where’s all that food going? There are video clips that show mukbangers chewing the food for a while and then spitting it out. While others barely chew on their food. Many have noticed that some mukbangers eat weirdly, with their mouths barely moving at all. The realities that are depicted are often stylised ones, with perfect edits and cuts at the right places. Consumers of mukbang content have often questioned how this quantity of food gets finished by merely one person.

In a nation dominated by hunger, we could extend a hand to those plagued by hunger, to make ourselves feel better about who we are as human beings. But we choose to stress on who we are and how we eat.

Then comes the aspect of regulation. A comedian who gets hounded for cracking jokes wakes authorities up immediately, while regulations can barely can be put for something as regular and banal such as food content. So, in a world that is slowly taking things out of our hands, where algorithms pull at our appetite and identities that are curated, the real hunger is one to be seen and heard for who we really are.

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