Abdulla Al Noman, a young man from Mymensingh, is earning over Tk1.5 lakh a month by posting videos of him eating food online.
The culture, known as mukbang, has come mainly from Korea. It is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food and interacts with the audience. It got popular among a certain group during the pandemic in 2020.
Noman posts his videos on YouTube and Facebook. His YouTube Channel “BD Best Ever Food” has over 575,000 followers, with 129,425,049 views in only a year.
He told Dhaka Tribune that when the pandemic hit Bangladesh, and everyone was locked up in their homes, Noman saw his first mukbang video.
“I bought my first smart phone two years ago. I saw a video of a Korean man eating food and I loved how beautifully he ate. I used to eat while watching these kinds of videos.”
He added that he noticed the YouTube views of the videos and got inspired as it was possible to earn a lot from them. “As I love to eat, I chose this path.”
However, Noman's path was not smooth. He had faced criticism for choosing such an unconventional way to make money.
At one point the youth was also demotivated when he saw his videos do not have enough reach. Nonetheless, Noman was adamant and soon one of his videos went viral on social media. He never had to look back.
Noman said: “I was thrilled when my first income - Tk10,000 was deposited in my bank account. I used all of it to make more food videos. I tried to improve the quality of my videos as well.”
He said after his video quality was improved, he gained over 100,000 subscribers in only three months. “My income increased from Tk10,000 to Tk1.5 lakh a month.”
The youth, talking to this correspondent, also said that people think making videos and eating food is an easy job.
“But it is not. One, we have to eat so much food. Then we also have to plan for the next food items. We have to shop for the food, cook it, and then edit the videos as well. So, one video takes a lot of time and effort.”
Noman later suggested the Bangladeshi youth to start Youtubing, as it pays well, rather than running after a job.
Noman is the youngest among his six siblings. He lost his father 20 years ago.
His mother supported the family with the father's pension money. Noman is currently studying at a local madrasa.
