About
Eatcast (먹방), short for “eating broadcast,” is a Korean internet slang term used to describe a webcast in which a video blogger livestreams oneself while eating a casual meal, usually alone and at a desk. While styles may vary from one eatcaster to another, the main draw of these video is quite similar to that of food porn.
Origin
The “feasting” webcasts first came about in 2008 with AfreecaTV vlogger Tae-Hyun’s Muck-Show (Eating Show), a livecast talk show-style program wherein he hangs with his friends over a barbecue on camera. In the following years, Tae-Hyun and his eat-and-show set-up became quite popular within the AfreecaTV community, giving rise to bloggers on the site, most notably Wang-Jew, who has been credited with establishing eating shows (muk-shows) as a mainstream vlog genre.
Spread
Between 2008 and 2010, numerous other AfreecaTV vloggers rose to minor fame through their eating programs, such as Bump, GoalKu and Bi-Ryong. Then in 2011, Korean internet users began using the term “eatcast” (muck-bong) to praise actor Ha Jeong Woo’s performance in eating scenes, which first came to light in the 2010 thriller film The Yellow Sea. By the end of 2011, the meaning of “eatcast” was expanded to describe mainstream variety TV shows that are heavy in food porn content, often in criticism.
Notable Examples
Fausto Levantesi
On May 16th, 2010, Italian video blogger Fausto Levantesi began uploading a series of short video clips of himself eating food on camera.
Search Interest
External References
Enha Wiki – "먹방":n
Afreecano – 아프리카TV 먹방 레전드 BJ디바, ‘화성인이 따로없네’
DongA Daily – ‘월수입 1000만원’ 미모의 여성 BJ ‘먹방’ 인기 비결, 궁금해요?
News1 – 인터넷방송 BJ, 부친상 장례식에서까지 먹방 진행?
Wikipedia – AfreecaTV