Muk-Bang (Eating Shows) and Cook-Bang (Cooking Shows) in Korea

I never thought Mukbang as Korean's unique web culture. It was after watching Finebro's video when I realized Mukbang as Korean’s unique show.

To basically tell you what Mukbang is, it is shortened word for Mukneon-Bangsong, which means Eating Shows in Korean. In the show people broadcast themselves eating food deliciously. People don’t know the exact day when the word came out to the world, but they believe that the word came out on the year of 2008, from internet.

In the video, there are two points that foreigners felt weird about Mukbang. First was the content. They could not understand why people watch other people eating. They were like “People watch this…?” However, it is true that people in Korea watch this, and people watch this kind of broadcast A LOT. Not only that, it is actually main item in Internet Broadcasting Shows. According to a research, 10% to 15% of the internet broadcasting show in Korea is Mukbang. The main Internet broadcasting show in Korea is called ‘Africa TV’, and it is said that average 5000 shows are on live per hour. So about 500 to 750 shows per hour is Mukbang- which proves that people in Korea loves Mukbang.

One expert says the reason why this Mukbang is so popular in Korea is that traditionally, Korean people usually eat together with friends or family and share the attachment, however nowadays, most people eat alone, so by watching those Mukbang, they substitute the attachment which should be felt while eating.

The second point that people in the Finebro’s video thought weird was the slurping sound that broadcasters make while eating. I believe that this is just a cultural difference. Most people in America thinks that it is manner to not make sound while eating, or close mouth while eating. However, the point of Mukbang is eating food as deliciously as much as they can, and making slurping sound while eating is actually the only way to express to people how delicious the food is. So slurping is inevitable in Mukbang.

Korean's famous cooking show, named please take care of my refrigerator

As people love Mukbang, and as it became part of the trend, TV programs started to broadcast Cook-bang, which is shortened word for Cooking bangsong, meaning Cooking shows. It is true that cooking shows existed before Mukbang, but it hasn't been this famous. Also it is not the one that chef comes out and cook-  people these days won’t watch. Even though the theme is same, the content of each show is different. 

For example, I love watching the show named ‘please take care of my refrigerator’. Basically, chefs there have to make delicious food from the guest’s refrigerator in 15 minutes. Before the show, guests brings refrigerator to the show. Since every guest has different food inside, the show can’t be boring& and as the guests are famous stars in Korea, people loves to watch what’s inside the famous star’s refrigerator. Also since they make delicious food using normal ingredients, not fancy ingredients in 15 minutes, it makes easy for people to copy the recipe and try it in real life.

However some people worry that kids might beautify the hard aspects of being cook, since media beautifies the chef. Another problem of Cook-Bang is product placement in TV Shows, and one expert (named Duk-Hyeon Jeong) says that “If one becomes a star by Muk-Bang, it is obvious that people to think that they are promoting the certain company’s product, so as nowadays celebrities just have to come out in TV shows and eat deliciously whatever food it is, company of that food just have to gather the list and think about effective promotion marketing.”

Whatever problem that Mukbang, and Cookbang makes, it is true that people loves watching those program, and is settled as part of the culture. So it is important for people woriking in media to solve the problem that Cook-bang creates, such as beautifying the hard aspect of chef or product placement. Not only that, it is important to make diverse content, even though they have same theme- ‘Cooking’