THE ARTICLE · 7 MIN
Mukbang Meaning
Mukbang (먹방, meokbang) is short for 먹는 방송 (meokneun bangsong), “eating broadcast”. The National Institute of Korean Language’s open dictionary, Urimalsaem, defines it as a programme that mainly shows people eating, and notes that it can also mean an eating scene in a drama or film.
A typical mukbang has one host eating a large meal on camera and talking to viewers, either live with a chat running alongside or in a recorded video. The reason viewers give most often for watching is the company, and some watch for the sound of eating.
The facts, with dates
| The word | 먹방 meokbang, short for 먹는 방송 meokneun bangsong, “eating broadcast” |
| Where it started | South Korea. A 2025 research review dates the first mukbang to 2008 and its rise in popularity to 2010, on the streaming platform AfreecaTV (now called SOOP) |
| What a BJ is | “Broadcast jockey”, the usual name for the host. On AfreecaTV, some hosts earn money from viewers’ contributions in virtual currency |
| When it went global | Twitch launched a Social Eating category at the end of June 2016, reversing an earlier policy that had prohibited mukbang streams |
| Why people watch | Easing the loneliness of eating alone is the reason mentioned most often in research on viewers’ motives |
The dates depend on what is being counted. A 2020 study, using Google Trends, found that “mukbang” started trending as a search term in South Korea in winter 2014 and worldwide in autumn 2014, and so describes the format as originating around 2014. The earlier dates describe the first broadcasts; the later one describes when the word took off.
The Allure of Mukbang
Company at mealtimes
A 2025 scoping review of the research found that alleviating the feelings of loneliness associated with eating alone is the reason mentioned most often for watching mukbang, and noted that this was particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Live shows make the company feel real: viewers comment, the host answers, and on AfreecaTV hosts can often be heard naming and thanking viewers in real time when they contribute money.
Food and culture
The same review found that another common reason for watching during the pandemic was to learn about food: its taste, its nutritional value and how it is cooked. A meal is an easy way into a cuisine you have never eaten.
The sound
The chomping and chewing sounds hosts make can evoke what researchers call an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): a pleasantly warm, tingling sensation that starts at the crown of the head and spreads down the body.
The Dark Side of Mukbang
Watching and eating habits
The research here is mixed, and worth reading closely. A 2020 study of YouTube comments and Reddit posts found that for some viewers watching mukbang helped them eat more, avoid binge eating or feel less lonely, while for others it motivated restrictive eating or triggered a relapse into loss-of-control eating. The authors summed up the comments as “simultaneously useful and hurtful”.
A questionnaire study has found a positive relationship between problematic mukbang watching and binge-eating or purging tendencies. That is an association: it does not show which comes first.
Food waste
Food waste is the concern one government has written into law: China’s 2021 law on food waste bans binge-eating broadcasts (see below).
The serious part
Some of the risks are in the news, not only in studies.
- Dongz Apatan, a mukbang vlogger from Iligan City in the Philippines, died in June 2024 after a hemorrhagic stroke. He was reportedly rushed to hospital after a mukbang session. In July 2024 the country’s health secretary said the Department of Health was considering a ban on mukbang videos; the department’s spokesperson said it would not ban them immediately.
- Chen Ziyi, a Chinese mukbang streamer known online as Yingying, with more than one million followers, died on 17 August 2026, aged 24, according to her parents. In her last video, posted on 14 August, she said she was in hospital because her blood potassium had fallen as low as 2.3, and she put it down largely to her work as a mukbanger and a long-term habit of making herself vomit. Her parents’ announcement did not give a cause of death.
- What a doctor pointed to. A doctor at Zhejiang Hospital told the Global Times that binge eating itself does not directly cause severe potassium loss. The main risks, the doctor said, are inducing vomiting and using laxatives, which some mukbangers do off camera to keep their figures. Researchers list vomiting and laxative misuse among the compensatory behaviours of disordered eating.
What governments have done
- South Korea, 2018. On 26 July 2018 the Ministry of Health and Welfare published a package of anti-obesity measures. One sentence in the 12-page report said it planned to “develop a guideline and create a monitoring system for advertisements and media that encourage overeating”. A ministry official said there would be no punishment for those who did not comply. The plan still drew petitions on the presidential website, and an opposition leader called it “statism”.
- China, 2021. The Law on Food Waste, adopted on 29 April 2021, says “the production, release, and dissemination of competitive eating and binge-eating programs or audios and videos on food wasting shall be banned” (Article 22). A broadcaster or online video service that refuses to correct a breach, or where the circumstances are serious, can be fined between RMB 10,000 and RMB 100,000 (Article 30).
- The Philippines, 2024. The Department of Health considered a ban after Dongz Apatan’s death, as above.
If food feels like a problem for you. Watching this content is not itself a disorder, but if you recognise bingeing or purging in your own life, that is worth talking to a doctor about. Eating disorders are serious and can be life-threatening, and with treatment most people can recover.
If you are struggling or thinking about suicide, please reach out now. findahelpline.com lists free, confidential helplines worldwide. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123. In Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. In India, call Tele-MANAS on 14416. In the Philippines, call the National Center for Mental Health crisis line on 1800-1888-1553 (or 1553 from a Luzon landline). If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
What you can do with this
- Notice what a session does for you. The research above finds the same videos helping some viewers and harming others. Whether you come away hungrier, calmer, or ready to eat less than you need is information about you, not about mukbang in general.
- Separate the company from the quantity. If what you want is someone to eat with, the loneliness finding suggests that is the part doing the work. A call with a friend at dinner or a shared meal offers company too.
- Read the amounts as a performance. A video shows what happens on camera. The doctor quoted above describes what can happen afterwards, off camera.
Sources
- Definition of 먹방 — National Institute of Korean Language, Urimalsaem (우리말샘), entry for 먹방.
- Origin (2008, 2010, AfreecaTV), motives, ASMR, and the link between problematic watching and binge eating or purging — Wang et al., “Use of Mukbang in Health Promotion: Scoping Review”, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2025; full text via NCBI.
- Google Trends dating, AfreecaTV virtual currency, and viewers’ experiences — Strand and Gustafsson, “Mukbang and Disordered Eating: A Netnographic Analysis of Online Eating Broadcasts”, Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 2020 (full text).
- Twitch’s Social Eating category — Tubefilter, “Twitch Chows Down With New ‘Social Eating’ Category”, 30 June 2016.
- Dongz Apatan — PEP.ph, “Mukbang vlogger passes away from hemorrhagic stroke”, 29 June 2024; Rappler, “Mukbang no more? DOH considers banning ‘mukbang’ after death of vlogger”, 8 July 2024.
- Chen Ziyi and the doctor’s comments — Global Times, “Mukbanger, 24, dies of cardiac arrest reportedly linked to low potassium”, 8 September 2026; Mothership, “Chinese mukbang influencer, 24, dies after repeatedly inducing vomiting after binge eating”, 12 September 2026; PEP.ph, “Chinese mukbang influencer dies after suffering from hypokalemia”, 9 September 2026.
- South Korea’s 2018 measures — Korea Biomedical Review, “How bad are ‘mukbang’ shows, really?”, 7 August 2018; The Korea Times, “Beware: Gov’t wants to regulate your eating habits”, 2 August 2018.
- China’s law — National People’s Congress, Law of the People’s Republic of China on Food Waste, Articles 22 and 30.
- Eating disorders — NIMH, Eating Disorders; NHS, Eating disorders.
- Helplines — Find A Helpline and its Philippines page; 988 Lifeline; 9-8-8 Canada; Samaritans; Lifeline Australia; Tele-MANAS on Find A Helpline; MentalHealthPH.
Checked September 2026. Figures and regulations are as they stood at that date.
- food
- food and nutrition
- internet trends
- mukbang