Indian mukbang videos on YouTube soar in popularity as binge-eating performers down 4kg of jackfruit, or 50 omelettes and four chickens, in a matter of minutes

Mukbang YouTubers film themselves binge-eating staggeringly large quantities of food. Thousands, even millions of viewers find watching them eat oddly soothing

In India, this social media trend has taken off, with some of the most watched competitive eaters chowing down on chicken, omelettes, KFC and noodles

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Chicken, omelettes, KFC and noodles – mukbang YouTubers like Deepika Verma (pictured) in India are eating it all as they tackle huge amounts of food in front of an online audience. Photo: courtesy Deepika Verma

Published: 7:45am, 26 Nov 2021Updated: 9:53am, 26 Nov 2021

Mounds of chicken biryani, dizzying numbers of omelettes … all eaten in front of a camera live-streaming to the internet.

These binge-eating videos are known as mukbang, which translates from the Korean for “eating broadcast” – a social media trend that began in South Korea around 2010.

Professionals who had left home to work in cities found themselves lonely and, unable to eat with their loved ones, went online to look for company while they had a meal – and the videos of them slurping noodles or munching pizza was oddly comforting for those that watched.

Since then, mukbang has morphed into live-streams or videos of (usually) young, thin people interacting with viewers as they eat a staggering amount of food. But why do people watch videos of people stuffing their faces?

Deepika Verma has more than 49,000 subscribers on YouTube. Photo: courtesy Deepika Verma

Many people associate food with pleasure and happiness, some love the competitive element of if the eater can finish it all, others find it cathartic because gluttony is usually considered a vice and shameful.