K-Pop — Entry No. 0095
먹방
mukbang · noun
먹방
mukbang
[MEOK-bang]
nounbeginner
Meaning
A portmanteau of 먹다 (meokda, “to eat”) and 방송 (bangsong, “broadcast”), 먹방 is a video format in which a host eats — often staggering quantities of food — while talking or interacting live with viewers. What began as a niche Korean internet trend around 2010 has since exploded into a global genre, with creators building millions-strong audiences simply by eating on camera with genuine enthusiasm.
K-Pop & K-Drama Context
BTS’s Jin (Kim Seokjin) is practically the patron saint of idol mukbang — his long-running Eat Jin series on V Live and YouTube turned fans’ screens into a cozy shared dinner table and helped cement the format as a K-Pop fan staple worldwide. TWICE, aespa, and Stray Kids have all filmed group mukbang content on fan platforms, and the drama Let’s Eat (식샤를 합시다) built its entire premise around a mukbang-obsessed protagonist, making the word inescapable in modern Korean pop culture.
Example Sentences
진의 먹방 보다가 너무 배고파서 결국 치킨 시켰어.
Jin-ui meokbang bodaga neomu baegopaseo gyeolguk chikin sikyeosseo.
I was watching Jin’s mukbang and got so hungry I ended up ordering chicken.
요즘 먹방 유튜버들이 엄청 인기 있잖아, 나도 해볼까?
Yojeum meokbang yutyubeodeuri eomcheong ingi itjana, nado haebollkka?
Mukbang YouTubers are insanely popular these days — maybe I should try it too?
심야에 혼자 먹방 보면 진짜 후회해. 근데 또 보게 돼.
Simyae honja meokbang bomyeon jinjja hugwehae. Geunde tto boge dwae.
Watching mukbang alone at midnight is genuinely a mistake. And yet I always end up watching again.
⚠️ Don’t use mukbang when…
- Describing any eating scene in a drama — 먹방 specifically means a deliberate broadcast format, not just a character eating on screen.
- Referring to silent ASMR eating videos with no host interaction; that’s a related but distinct genre fans sometimes conflate with mukbang.
🎵 Heard In
- K-Drama: Let’s Eat (식샤를 합시다, 2013) — the protagonist is a passionate mukbang enthusiast whose solo dining videos win him online followers and eventually a love interest in his own apartment complex.
- K-Pop: Jin (BTS) — the Eat Jin mukbang series, where Jin live-streamed himself eating everything from Korean BBQ to convenience-store ramen while chatting warmly with millions of fans around the world.
💡 Did You Know? South Korea’s government formally studied mukbang in 2020 amid concerns that watching hours of high-calorie eating content might influence viewers’ own dietary habits — making 먹방 possibly the only internet video genre to receive official public health scrutiny from a national government.
ℹ️ Editorial Note: The cultural context and example usage are for educational reference only. Artist names, song titles, and drama references are used descriptively to illustrate vocabulary in context. This content is AI-assisted and reviewed for accuracy. For official information, please refer to the respective artists’ or studios’ official channels.