A South Korean Food Trend Has Gone Viral — But Nutritionists Say You Shouldn’t Necessarily Join In

A YouTuber turns on their camera, and the feed goes live. They have a plate of food in front of them, and they begin to eat. It sounds harmless enough, but this internet trend — one that started in South Korea and took off in the United States — has experts worried about the effects it could have on people’s mental and physical health.

Food and the internet just go together

It’s nothing new for a food challenge or recipe to break the internet. You can probably think back and remember some of the ones that you’ve seen online — or that you may have tried yourself. In 2011, for example, the cinnamon challenge went viral. All you had to do was swallow a spoonful of cinnamon in a minute without washing it down with water.

A must-see experience

It sounds simple enough, but it wouldn’t have made waves if it was possible to do. Instead, people found it hard to breathe after trying the challenge — some even had to rush to the hospital. But it made for some wild YouTube videos and a trial by food that so many viewers felt they had to try for themselves.

Too hot to handle

The ghost pepper challenge set the internet on fire, too — pun intended. All you had to do was eat this notoriously hot chili and live to tell the tale. A simple search on YouTube will give you an idea of how many people attempted to beat the ghost pepper. There are thousands of uploaded clips that show people suffering through this one.

Getting people cooking

It’s not just food challenges that set the internet ablaze. Must-try, wacky and clever recipes often get people sharing and trying new foods, too. Cloud eggs, 2017’s must-try breakfast, is one example. To prep them, you whip up egg whites, bake them in cloud formation, then pour the yolk back into the center and bake it all together.