Culinary disaster
Mukbang is a trend of broadcasting scenes of consuming large amounts of food originating in Korea. In Vietnam, many mukbangers have caught up with the trend of making videos of eating strange foods or large quantities to attract viewers. Some choose unique dishes that are picky eaters such as coconut worms, raw meat, etc. to appeal to the curiosity of the audience. They use the reason that these videos are inspired by countries with rich culinary backgrounds such as Thailand, China, etc.

TikTok is seeing many mukbang clips that are being criticized as unhealthy. Photo by Ssoyoung.
Sitting in front of the camera and a giant food tray, a Vietnamese TikToker with 1.5 million followers, named Toc Vang hoe, began her mukbang clip. However, many viewers were startled by the girl's recklessness when she ate from a beef salad tray, live octopus to 10 pig brains, 20 raw eggs, and dozens of coconut worms in less than 10 minutes.
It is not clear whether it is really delicious or not, but the audience can clearly hear the female TikToker chewing, slurping, and swallowing the food. Even in the video, Toc Vang Hee warns, "Be careful not to eat too much because it can cause bloating" or advises the audience not to eat too much because it can cause allergies. However, in order to attract viewers, the channel owner is still willing to make videos of eating "super big, giant" raw food trays that make viewers' hair stand on end. There was also a time in a video, this girl said she was allergic to eating up to 33 coconut worms in a short time.
Although gradually being turned away in countries like South Korea and China due to their offensiveness, bizarre eating clips still appear in Vietnam and other countries. The main reason is that these clips can make a lot of money for content creators. From durian peels, live organs, live insects... they can do anything, as long as they increase views and followers. Wang Can, who has more than 560,000 followers on the video sharing platform Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), once had his account locked by the platform after posting a clip of him eating a live wasp. Wang was stung by the bee, causing his lips to swell and his face to become deformed. But this person still believes that this foolish act has helped him gain 100,000 more followers. The caption of the clip also warns: "Danger, don't imitate", but Wang also emphasizes that it is a "courageous" challenge, "nothing to be afraid of"...
Sharing the reason why many TikTokers are willing to make scary mukbang clips, MommyTang, a TikToker with 496,000 million channel subscribers, said that if they become famous through mukbang clips, a mukbanger can earn 100,000 USD/year or more thanks to advertising contracts, profits paid by the platform to content creators...
Unforeseen consequences
In fact, making mukbang clips is not bad at all. In fact, it is an effective tool to promote national culinary culture. However, the distortion of these clips is causing audiences to misunderstand culinary culture. Not to mention, this way of eating also causes serious health problems. Talking to Express , Dr. Rodríguez Ruiz, an obesity treatment expert, said that unscientific mukbang clips and online eating programs are "causing many health risks", which is a big problem for public health care. According to psychologist Michal Strahilevitz, the expert believes that consuming a huge amount of food, including many raw foods, not only causes physical health problems but also mental health problems. People who make clips can face the problem of uncontrolled weight gain, self-consciousness about their appearance and withdraw from social relationships. Therefore, psychologists recommend that content creators should consider before making clips to protect their health. For viewers, watching too many mukbang clips will lead them to unscientific eating behaviors.

Horror mukbang trend spreads to Vietnam. Screenshot
Recognizing the risk that toxic mukbang clips will affect public health, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare had to issue a notice to "develop development directions for internet broadcasting programs about mukbang, to improve people's eating behaviors and build a tighter monitoring system". Regarding China, BBC reported that the Chinese government has announced the "Clean Plate" campaign to call for an end to food waste. The "Clean Plate" campaign was created to raise people's awareness of food security. Mukbang videos with excess food are considered to go against the policy. China's CCTV also produced many programs criticizing mukbangers, calling for behavioral adjustments to avoid food waste. On websites, mukbang clips appear with yellow messages warning viewers. In addition, Chinese video streaming platforms also blur out eating clips. In the long run, this approach can cause mukbang videos to lose views significantly, and audiences will also lose interest.
Many experts say that technology companies are taking action. When viewers search for keywords to watch mukbang such as "eating show" or "eating livestream", these platforms must post warning notes; even strictly prohibit offensive mukbang clips. In Vietnam, platforms need to pay more attention to viewers, be ready to issue warnings, and block when these clips appear. Viewers themselves also need to be clearly aware of the harmful effects of unhealthy mukbang clips, and avoid following them to protect their health.
NAM ANH
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