‘I Eat Three People’s Meals in One Go’: Decoding the Rise of Indian Mukbangers

Sitting in front of seven huge plates full of Indian food, MaddyEats begins her 15-minute-long video. There is a gleam of excitement in her eyes. She is determined to devour the seemingly impossible-to-eat quantity of food. But she does it. In under 15 minutes she wipes the plate clean. This video garners over a million views on YouTube. You can see her hands get dirty, hear her loud chewing sounds, the slurps and and even her swallowing. There is a feverishness to this form of eating. This is Mukbang, a food video trend that originated in South Korea and has taken over the world by storm.

MaddyEats is the onscreen persona of Madhuri Lahiri, whose YouTube channel has 3.7 million subscribers. If that isn’t a testimony enough to how much people love her content, one look at the views and comments section will put all doubts to rest. She started three years ago, and on an average, all her videos garner over a million views, and a barrage of likes and comments.

Mukbang, a whacky, weird and oddly engaging trend, has been on the rise for a while now. Video creators from around the world are hopping onto the mukbang bandwagon, where they record detailed ASMR videos of sitting and slowly devouring large spreads.

The Korean word mukbang originated from two separate Korean words which are meok-ja/ muk-ja, which means ‘let’s eat’ or ‘eating’, and bang song, which means ‘to broadcast.’ In essence, it meant a broadcast show, or a live show where hosts eat big food spreads. They sometimes just focus on eating and sometimes interact with the audience.

The hosts themselves are known as mukbangers and depending on geographical locations, people pick their own spreads.

Mukbang Reaches India

When Sourav started out, he remembers how it wasn’t something he enjoyed at all. “After eating that much food, I’d feel very uneasy. I wouldn’t be able to sit or sleep in peace because of how uncomfortable I felt,” he recounts.

Eventually he figured that his entire lifestyle has to be altered if he wants to continue making mukbang videos at a steady pace. He shoots a video every four days, and follows a strict diet regime the rest of the days.

“Right now, I have to do OMAD (one meal a day) on the day before and the day after I shoot a video. The rest of the days I have to do intermittent fasting. Additionally, I go to train at the gym in the morning every day and do cardio every evening,” he said. “That’s the only way to stay fit.”

Without any time to chew, all the food is usually gulped down. “When I started out, I’d feel very uncomfortable and uneasy after eating such large amounts. It’d be difficult to sit, stand or even move after the meals,” said Sourav.

To understand the implications of human beings consuming so many calories regularly for meals, we spoke to Aman Puri, Founder, Steadfast Nutrition, a leading sports nutrition brand. “If someone consistently consumes large quantities of food, they are likely to get into the habit of it, which in the long run can lead to weight gain, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hormonal issues, and heart diseases. It can also result in gastrointestinal distress leading to bloating, constant nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy, fatigue, and uneasiness,” said Aman.

“I wouldn’t promote these trends. A person should have a balanced diet daily, rather than eating large quantities of foods one day and balancing it with other meals,” he added.

Slurp and Lick: The ASMR Components

A key aspect of mukbang is the ASMR component of it. ASMR is the tingling sensation on your spine that many find relaxing and addictive, that occurs when you watch stimulating videos. The ASMR part of mukbang videos comprises the crunch of the initial bite, the dip into a sauce, the chewing, the sucking meat off a bone, the slurp, the licking of fingers and swallowing. Even though it might sound oddly gross to some, netizens can’t seem to be getting enough of it.

Pitfalls

One however, cannot ignore the pitfalls of the viral trend.

In a bid to take the crazy a notch higher, people often try mind boggling acts, sometimes with dire consequences. A Chinese vlogger who went by the surname Sun died while live-streaming himself consuming large quantities of alcohol and eating centipedes, geckos and mealworms.

Another harmful effect as highlighted by this study is individuals’ consumption norms have the potential to be easily affected by others’ consumption. They might think it's okay and normal to try and consume a 2000 calorie meal, because they see someone else do it on screen, but fall sick later on.

The obvious other implication is the creation of unhealthy eating habits and consumption patterns. Mukbang could potentially promote problematic eating and food practices among both mukbangers and the viewers. Weight gain, heart diseases and diabetes are potential health hazards of normalising eating copious amounts in one go.

“Such amounts of binge-eating can also qualify as symptoms of bulimia or other eating disorders, and none of it is normal. Some of it may even be driven by other psychological conditions. It may be popular or done for attention, but it is definitely not normal,” said Arupa Sen, a weight management and nutrition consultant.

The author in this study claimed that the mukbang phenomenon has damaged South Koreans’ relationship with food and hunger by normalising conspicuous consumption and consumption of different foods that were not historically welcome in South Korea such as western fast food.

It also raises the question of how much should people truly appreciate and promote the glorification of overconsumption or “binge-ing.” It is afterall, known widely to have adverse health implications.