Bethany Gaskin really loves seafood.
She loves seafood so much, in fact, that she films herself sloppily devouring crab legs, lobster tails, and mussels — and, every week, millions of YouTube viewers watch her do it.
Her most popular “mukbang” video — 36 minutes and 34 seconds of crab-cracking, lip-smacking, napkin-lacking wonder — has 11.7m views.
Now, Gaskin’s viral videos have earned her more than $1m, 1.8m subscribers, and the chance to quit her job, The New York Times reports.
The miraculous medicine of mukbang
Mukbang, a combination of the Korean words for “eating” and “broadcasting,” first became popular among niche Korean video-streamers a decade ago. But to uninitiated American viewers, modern mukbang feels fishy: Am I missing the joke? Is this all some sick shellfish charade?!?
But make no mistake, mukbang mania is no joke — it’s ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response).
ASMR videos — mindless, soothing sights and sounds that trigger tingles in the brain — are the televisual tonic of the social media age; sweet, obliviating stimulants that calm frayed nerves and withered attention spans.
And, apparently, seafood is just what Doctor Algorithm ordered.
Making mukbang into a booming business
“I think of mukbanging as a ministry,” Gaskin told the NYT. “I knew this was it, and I quit [my job] by faith.”
Indeed, it only took a few muks to start bringing in the bucks: Gaskin’s wildly engaged audience (which today includes Cardi B) quickly enabled her to quit her job.
That was only the start of her seafood success. Soon, Gaskin’s husband, Nate — who was initially skeptical of his wife’s “hobby” — left his job at General Electric to become his wife’s full-time manager.
Today, the feasts are a family affair: Gaskin’s sons often appear in videos — and, since they also suck the shell out of seafood, they’re perfectly poised to take over the family business.
