Food as material, bodies as brand names and AI as fetish generator in the spectacle of limitless consuming
We Are All Enjoying Someone Consume
Mukbang began as a South Oriental livestream fad in the early 2010 s. A single person consumes, millions watch. A plate of food becomes a program occasion. Sounds are amplified. Eye contact is substitute. The screen fills with chewing, ingesting and satisfaction done.
It was always around more than food. Mukbang transforms the act of consuming, when exclusive, physical and ritualistic, right into efficiency. Into information. Into brand name. The mukbanger is not simply consuming. They are staging consumption, transforming cravings right into affect. Calories into content. The visitor, on the other hand, is welcomed to delight through detachment. To feel satisfaction without involvement. To consume usage.
Aestheticized Consumption
Food in mukbang is not normal. It is hyperreal: large, vibrantly tinted, set up with practically sensual care. The meals are not meals. They are props in a digital theater of excess. Sauce trickles in 4 K. Cheese stretches in slow-moving motion. Grind is caught with binaural microphones.