Call it food p-rn or first-world voyeurism at its best. Whatever it is, there’s no sex, but there is a lot of food involved in what has become one of South Korea’s latest, and perhaps most delicious internet trends.
In the country with the fast, ubiquitous Internet access, there are bound to be some interesting communities, and the new trend of mokbang, a combination of the Korean words for “eating” and “broadcast,” has its own world of celebrities and citizens. These “broadcast jockeys” stream themselves scarfing down generous portions of all manners of food while enjoying a conversation with viewers.
Kotaku speculated that the mokbangs were an offshoot of South Koreans praising actors for their ability to “eat deliciously” in television dramas. The broadcasts really gained steam on Afreeca TV, a South Korean peer-to-peer online video network, and like YouTube celebrities, the broadcast jockeys are paid, but not by hits or advertising revenue. Viewers can give the jockeys virtual currency called “Star Balloons” that are sold in denominations ranging from $1 to $50, which can be exchanged for real currency, which can amount to thousands of dollars per video.
The Diva, one of the most popular mokbang broadcast jockeys, makes thousands of dollars each month from her live streams, but most of that goes to pay for her monthly $3,000 food bill. She apparently began live-streaming her meals because she was “bored and needed a hobby,” that is, if consuming thousands of calories in one sitting could be considered a hobby.
During her daily two-hour meals, The Diva can eat literal feasts, whether it be two pizzas, thirty fried eggs, a box of crab legs or five packets of instant noodles. She has said all the eating has added 20 pounds, and because of rumors that she was throwing it all up, she now broadcasts a few hours after eating to chat with viewers. That’s at least four hours of live-streaming per night, while she balances her job at a consulting agency.
The Korean website Dailian points out that mokbang is growing in popularity because people don’t want to eat alone. But then again, mokbangs could just be taking Instagram to the ultimate extreme.
