The trend started a few years ago, mainly by Koreans who uploaded videos of themselves eating. Today, the mukbang trend is still in full force, with a range of mukbang styles and mukbang hosts from all around the world. You will be able to find mukbang talk shows, mukbang food reviews, and of course, ASMR mukbangs.
If you’re new to mukbangs, basically they are videos of people eating. For some reason or another, viewers enjoy watching others eat. Sometimes, the entertainment factor is amped up by speed-eating competitions or challenges like the ‘spicy ramen challenge’. As most of these mukbang hosts are Koreans, watching mukbang also presents an excellent opportunity to learn the Korean language.
For starters to the realm of mukbang, you might be wondering where to start watching. Or perhaps you’ve been inspired to start your own mukbang channel, and you can’t decide which foods to eat on your channel first. The truth is, some foods are more popular as mukbang foods, just because they look more satisfying to eat. To find out what these are, read on!
- Jellies
Jellies are an excellent food for mukbangs because they usually come in vibrant colours, and look simply striking in videos. Then, there’s their wobbly slipperiness that makes them look quite fascinating and gives them a satisfying squelch with every bite. This makes jellies the perfect candidate for ASMR videos, where the sound of the eating is just as, if not more important than the visuals of the food. As a bonus, some mukbang artists choose intricately made jellies that resemble items or other foods, making it more interesting to see.
- Seafood
Korea is big on their seafood. Don’t just think of crabsticks and fish – Korean mukbang hosts love their sashimi, prawns, squid, and octopus. Raw octopus deserves a mention because the whole concept of eating them is quite bizarre to those outside of Korea. Usually, the tentacles are cut into smaller pieces, dipped into a sauce, and the still-wriggling tentacles are then eaten. As you can probably already imagine, the sounds arising from such a scene is sure to be quite distinct, which is why some people love it for the ASMR.
- Chicken
If you love crunchy foods like fried chicken, you’ll be glad to know it’s on the list of most popular mukbang foods as well! Korean fried chicken typically comes covered with sauce, which makes it look absolutely tantalising when you see the shiny sauce dripping from the chicken wing. Some mukbang artists pair chicken with foods or contrasting textures like teokbokki (rice cakes) and noodles to juxtapose the sounds. Apart from the sound, watching people tear off the meat and clean off the bones is also pretty satisfying in itself.
- Black bean noodles
Those familiar with the Korean culture will know that black bean noodles, or jajangmyeon, are one of the most popular foods in Korea. The noodles are served with a thick black bean sauce alongside either minced meat or seafood. Before eating, the noodles are given a good mix, which produces some valuable audio for ASMR purposes. Finally, the visuals of the savoury black sauce and long noodles being slurped up is definitely a satisfying sight to behold.
The sounds of these foods are sure to whet your appetite for some good mukbang – or good food, for that matter! Here at Sejong Korean Language School, we also love to watch some good mukbang and learn Korean together. Why not watch some of these mukbang shows with us and find out if they are truly deserving of the top mukbang foods or not?