- Joined
- Apr 27, 2015
Could also be a form of living vicariously.I don't see the attraction, but I understand the idea behind it.
It was a way for lonely people to feel like they're not eating by themselves because they're watching a person who is eating and talking to them. It originated in South Korea as a live streaming thing, which makes sense because it's slightly less pathetic to have the person on video interact with you. Note the "slightly less pathetic" part. Mukbanging as it is today is simply the next step in evolution because a lot of people just want to feel like they're not alone but don't really want interaction. As weird as that sounds.
It's mostly lazy mukbangers who put on weight from it. If you notice people like Zach Choi, Stephanie Soo, or EricTheElectric aren't overweight and do actually take care of themselves. Beyond Mukbang, people who are hardcore into exercising or physical activity like Michael Phelps [he was reported to eat well over 5000 calories a day when he was training for an event] can eat a lot without too much problem. As long as you're working out and taking care of yourself, you can eat as much as you want. But of course lazy people who use it as an easy way to make money are going to blow up like whales.
I know Niko is a lolcow but it's actually kind of tragic to go back and look at images of him before Mukbang and after.
Like "I really want to eat 5 buckets of KFC right now, but I'm trying to lose weight, so this video of someone else doing it is almost as good."