Stephanie Soo: “What is Mukbang?”
In a video by Backslash, famous South Korea mukbanger Stephanie Soo provides a glimpse into the Mukbang world. Stephanie lives in Los Angeles, California, and currently has 2.34 million subscribers on YouTube.
According to Stephanie, in Korean, “muk” means eating, and “bang” means room, so it translates to “eating room”.
She explains that when she was little, she would always feel bad when she saw someone eating alone. The purpose of her content is to give people company, which is a partial explanation for why mukbangs are so appreciated in Korea. An article titled, “Table for One?: How Dining Culture Is Changing in South Korea,” by Gwanghyun Pyun, describes the importance of group eating in the South Korean culture. It’s uncommon to dine alone. In fact, if you do eat alone, you might be viewed as being socially awkward with very few friends. But, the dining culture is changing, and because there is an increase of single-person households due to later marriages and higher rates of divorce, dining alone is becoming more and more common(Pyun).
Stephanie discusses a range of topics throughout the video, ranging from what type of mukbang food are the most popular to the type of gifts and mail her fans send to her P.O. box. She does a good job of making mukbangs seem more appealing and entertaining to the public.
A part of this video that disappoints me is when Stephanie states that most of the comments on her videos are by people who are dieting who say they find mukbangs satisfying. Someone who is more familiar with the harmful effects of diet culture and eating disorders might see this as a red flag. Dieting has become so normalized in the United States that the dangers of these ideas are unnoticed and under-recognized. So, this isn’t Stephanie’s fault.
Overall, I think if more people watched Stephanie Soo’s explanation of the Mukbang ‘phenomenon’, mukbangs would be better understood and less stigmatized. It’s good to know that people can get companionship who don’t have it. But, this video also highlights the necessity of more awareness and information surrounding the destructive impacts of diet culture so that the people who control these platforms can pay more attention to it.
