About Research
Food vlog is a form of video that focuses on shots of eating, but also covers cultural content such as restaurant reviews and food culture introductions. This culture is deeply influenced by Mukbang (먹방), a Korean portmanteau which in colloquial use refers to "a broadcast where people eat," normally involving a solo eater who consumes a wide variety of food in a live-video stream or a food video (Choe, 2019, p. 173). As a fan who used to watch food vlogs during my meals, I am fascinated by how food vloggers are attempting to apply strong visual and audio stimulation and vivid narrations to achieve the sense of taste through digital technology. Thus, I am eager to conduct a sensory ethnography: through observing the interactions between food vloggers and audiences, I hope to decode how people are vicariously experiencing ‘tastes’ through digital technology. The project is a multi-sensory ethnography. Though ‘taste’ is a primary research focus, it needs to be investigated through how people may apply the senses of visual, audio plus narrative explanations, to pursue the achievement of taste, smell, and touch (mouthfeel) of food through digital technology.
Since the research focus is on food vloggers based in London, it is embedded in the context of how digital technology is mediating the food cultures of London and how such mediation influences the audience’s perspectives towards London worldwide. I focused on the experience of London-based food vlogs on the Chinese video platform Bilibili and among Chinese audiences. This case was chosen because, on the one hand, my position as an insider familiarises me with the subcultural insights in this community; on the other hand, there is a significant difference between Chinese food culture and Western food culture, making it a challenging situation for London-based food vloggers to communicate the unfamiliar tastes with Chinese audiences. Thus, my research focuses not only on food vlog experience as a technical mediation of sensory experience, but also as a cultural mediation.
Finally, the research questions are listed as below:
1) What does Mukbang in London do? Why do people enjoy watching Mukbang?
2) How do BJs convey the taste sense of food to viewers?
3) From the case of Mukbang, how does digital technology mediate the multi-sensory experience of food and broader food cultures in London?
About Methodology
In this study, I had encountered four participants: a food vlogger from the Bilibili and three audiences. The food vlogger @Hi_Kevin is a Chinese vlogger based in London with 69,000 followers. He usually records food vlogs together with his partner, but only he himself will show up in the shots. In our continued communications, I confirmed that he wanted to be involved in this research project in a way that was not anonymous and did not blur his face. This was also due to his demand for increased attention as a food vlogger. Regarding the audience, A, B is based in China and C is based in London. All three audiences regularly watch the London food vlog on Bilibili and have seen Kevin's videos, which allowed me to ask some specific questions about Kevin's example.
In terms of methodology, I conducted interviews with food vloggers, A and B. As C was based in London, I also managed to conduct the participant observation by accompanying C to dinner and watching Kevin's videos in addition to the interviews. I attempted to experimentally recover the data from this section into a digital field that could be interacted with, which is shown centrally in Soup.
Furthermore, I also experimented with some digital methods, such as inviting participants to describe their vision of the London food experience through digital sound and music, and to express their vision of the future technology of food vlogging through drawing. This section will be presented in Dessert.
As an Experiment of Digital Anthropology
I would like to illustrate some of the experimental innovations that digital tools have brought to this sensory research. This demonstrates the potential of digital anthropology not only as a perspective of understanding, but also as a methodology.
1) A more unrestricted research structure with immersive presentation.
Overall, the project is presented in a dinner-like manner, including appetizer, main courses, soup and dessert. Through this I hope to demonstrate some of the insights I gained in the field: the extent to which metaphor and visual stimuli can inspire the sensory experience. You may wish to reflect on whether these small modifications make a difference to the way you perceive a research.
2) A more authentic representation of the digital experience, including the presentation of the data itself in the form of video/audio/images.
The digital means also allow for more experimental ways of collecting data, for example by allowing participants to communicate their felt/imagined experience and vibe through digital sounds. I have also tried to recover a digital field of food vlog experience, inviting past participants, and future witnesses, to continue to join this research through the medium of digital platforms.
Finally, bon appétit.