Mukbanging, a fun word and even funner concept. But the mentality behind watching someone eat may be a little more complicated than we think.
For some of us, there is absolutely nothing worse than watching someone eat. The sound of someone slurping their drink and smacking their lips is enough to turn our stomach and put our food in the bin. But for others, watching someone eat is calming, it’s interesting, it’s fulfilling and it’s a form of escapism like watching a movie or reading a good book. And albeit it’s slightly more messy than these more traditional mediums, the world of mukbanging has become a genre in its own right.
In one (very full) corner of the internet, lives creators like Trisha Paytus, Janemukbangs, and Anali, all of whom eat excessive amounts of fast food in front of a high- quality camera and crisp mic, for the world to enjoy. Some of the love for mukbanging apparently comes from living vicariously through the person- it gives you all the sounds and sensations of amazing food, without the calories or the cost.
Some suggest that watching a mukbang can be a sort of solution for loneliness. With lots of people finding themselves eating alone, it makes sense that mukbang would appeal to lonely people as a video form of communal eating. Which is quite a wholesome concept really.
You also may fantasise about eating a huge amount of food, so watching someone else do it allows you to vicariously let your inhibitions go, without actually dealing with the intense stomach cramps and regret actually eating it might give you.
However, a seemingly crucial (but relatively unspoken about) element to the recipe for a successful mukbanger, is being slim and attractive. Being a heavier person and eating fast food on camera doesn’t seem to get nearly as much love, in fact it usually gets the opposite.
Recently Tiktoker Becky Jones shocked her 1.1M followers when she announced that she was leaving Tiktok because of the hate and death threats she was receiving. The 32- year- old is known for her ‘what i eat in a day’ and ‘come and dish up dinner with me’ videos.
And if you have ever been on that side of Tiktok, you will know the hate she was getting was no joke. With people constantly poking fun at her size, her face, her clothes and her diet, it’s hard to imagine how anyone would cope. However, this definitely isn’t the kind of feedback we see towards other creators who happen to be smaller. Tiktok creator Anali’s comments are flooded with “I wish I could eat like this.” and “This looks sooo good.”
Presumendly, there is a level of sizeism and classism involved. Exactly like how seeing Kate Moss tuck into a Mcdonalds is ‘iconic’ but seeing Becky Jones stop for one on a road trip is “disgusting” and “sad”. And they aren’t my words, they are just a few examples of the kind of thing TikTok users are commenting under Becky’s videos.
And then you have the obvious issues with promoting binge eating. Eating in excess is incredibly dangerous, and although less widely discussed BED (binge eating disorder) can be equally, if not more dangerous than the more widely spoken about eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia. However, the idea that to have a binge eating disorder you must be overweight is wildly incorrect. So presuming that a slimmer mukbanging has a healthy relationship with food, and a larger one doesn’t is fundamentally incorrect.
I see no problem with enjoying the odd mukbang or two, if that’s what floats your boat. But if you wake up and realise you’re getting excessively angry about what people eat, or finding yourself fantasising about letting yourself eat as much, I reckon it’s time to take a break. Likewise, I would hope this is obvious but whether or not you believe that person should or shouldn’t be eating what they are, is none of your business really. It’s cool if you enjoy it, and cool if you don’t. But it’s not cool to spread fatphobic, classist and nasty messages about people and their bodies online. So if you do find yourself salivating over a creator demolishing an in-n-out burger, but then judging another doing the exact same, check yourself and your intentions.
