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By Bernard Rowan
Recently, I've been looking at various YouTube and Facebook videos about Korean cooking. It's a reminder of the wonderful foods and experiences I had whilst visiting or living in South Korea. I've had countless happy meetings in which a meal formed a key part of events or experiences, with friends and colleagues. I've also enjoyed eating solo in Korea. These videos help to popularize Korean cuisine and Korean culture. Hallyu isn't just for television shows, feature films and pop music.
The shows also help Americans and others to understand that Korean culture thrives not just in Seoul but in other cities and less urban places. Recently, I enjoyed watching a Korean family depict their New Year's meal. Their Seollal meal was a feast! However, I remember the work of the family to prepare the meal. The son, daughter-in-law and the son's mother joined in. I saw no traces of "sijipsari" (living with the husband's parents) but instead a family practice and tradition.
In another video, a farm owner enjoyed "ssam" (vegetable wrap), with great relish. After a busy day of work in his fields, the farmer cooked his own "samgyeopsal" (sliced pork belly), assembled the side dishes and made the wonderful wraps. He consumed an entire serving plate of them and downed a bottle of soju (Korean liquor) as well. Watching the video made me hungry, and reminded me of the experiences of enjoying ssam, and of my friendships and friends who taught me to prepare this wonderful food.
Another kind of Korean food video is "meokbang" (an eating show that is often broadcast live). These videos typically feature people eating solo, enjoying staple foods, popular dishes, or food from restaurants, well-known and otherwise. Wikipedia's meokbang page contains useful information about this kind of eating show. For much of my time in Korea, I was a bachelor, and I often ate alone. I think it's great that people can share their experiences of food and help others to learn and know more about Korean food and eating practices.
However, I worry about what I'll call "gluttony meokbang." These videos show individuals, themselves sometimes healthy but others grossly obese, eating over-the-top quantities of food. It's disturbing to me. As one learns about meokbang, these shows can provide vicarious pleasure and satisfaction. I'm not going to stay on that quality, as I find it revolting. I'm reminded of a scene in the movie, "Seven Deadly Sins."
What concerns me is both the loneliness and emptiness that such meokbang videos portray. As South Korea has advanced, the birthrate has slowed. More and more young people delay marriage. There is increased isolation. There are more suicides. The family unit has changed, and there is more individualism, including self-isolation. These contexts affect the young and the old. Correlations among these and other causes should continue to be studied and the underlying issues and effects addressed. I find gluttony meokbang sad.
The young people who eat food to excess may resemble the kind of atmosphere found at an eating contest, itself a gastronomic oddity. But other wonderful human beings, who might otherwise appear on the American show, "My 600-Pound Life," make money or are paid to depict acts of gluttony. We know that some of the people on that television program died from conditions related to or resulting from excess weight, or suicide. Some people watch these shows and find them humorous or pathetic. The same goes for meokbang shows.
Of course, in a free society, we're free to make and to watch, to consume, what we choose. The philosopher J.S. Mill and others say the best answer to any form of free speech we don't agree with is to "turn it off" or "don't watch it." I don't disagree and don't recommend censoring meokbang videos. However, I'd ask that people consider whether they don't point to other issues and concerns deserving individual, family and social attention.
Behind those silly alarming videos are real people whose lives matter. How we depict life reflects and teaches people how to live. I don't think gluttony meokbangs are evil. They point out some problems of present-day life, the pressures individuals face and the alarming increase in self-destructive behaviors, in South Korea and elsewhere.
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and academic services and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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