I don’t even remember how I was tipped off on this story, but apparently there is this strange craze in South Korea where people tune in to watch girls eat food.  This shouldn’t be a huge surprise seeing that people will tune in to watch anything – even if it’s just BAD.  But to sit and watch someone eat a meal just seems ludicrous, as Mike Tyson would say.

Having said that, I found myself sitting in front of my laptop watching these K-girls eat their food. It’s what boredom and morbid curiosity will do to you while you’re teaching in Korea.  There’s lots of free time.

But there I sat watching.  And after I made it through the entire video, I realized – “I just watched someone eat their dinner”.

All this zaniness is trumped by only one thing; the WAY these girls eat.  When they’re eating noodles, like ram-yeon or ja-jang myeon, they take their chopsticks and grab a big bunch of noodles, swirl it around and around to get more on the sticks, and stuff it in their mouths. But that’s not where it ends. See, when I eat noodles, I get a big bite and then chomp the noodle off.  And chew.

These girls continue inhaling until they reach the very end of the noodles.  And when they’ve finished one bite, about 1/4 of the dish is empty. I’ve never in my life seen anything like it. I don’t understand why they don’t just bite of the noodles and chew.  No, they keep going until the very end of the noodle disappears.

Honorable mention goes to the amount of food they prepare and the amount they actually eat in one sitting.  One girl, “pinka”, makes enough food for 10 people, so hopefully she has post video parties or something.

Now I’m sure people are going to say, “this is just how Koreans eat!”  Well, you know what, that’s not how Koreans eat.  I’ve never seen Koreans eat like this before.  Except for these girls.

As a slight disclaimer, I can say that a lot of it seems like embellishing and overacting for effect. As they are preparing the food and then ultimately eating it, they seem to be tuned into an online audience watching real-time. Though it’s well known that Koreans do like to smosh loudly to show favor with the food they’re eating, I think these girls are just kicking it up a notch.  Nonetheless, it’s still crazy – in a mesmerizing kind of way.

The most insane part of all of this is the fact that some of them are reportedly making several thousand dollars a month showcasing their devouring skills. What did I miss along the way?

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