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Tastes of the Marianas features ‘mukbang’ mega eater
One of Korea’s top YouTube eaters, Fume, right, samples Chamorro bisteak at the 24th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival & Beer Garden on June 24, 2023, at Garapan Fishing Base in Saipan. At left is Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands legal counsel Marcia Schultz. (MVA)
One of Korea’s top YouTube eaters, Fume, left, poses with first place winner Damian Palacios of the HANMI/NMTech Chamorro Bisteak Cookoff at the 24th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival & Beer Garden on June 24, 2023, at Garapan Fishing Base in Saipan. (MVA)
One of Korea’s top YouTube eaters, Fume, visited the Marianas in June 2023 on a media familiariztion tour organized by the Marianas Visitors Authority during the 24th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival & Beer Garden. (MVA)
Fume, one of Korea most popular “mukbang” eating shows, sampled the flavors of the islands at the 24th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival & Beer Garden on Saipan last June 24, 2023.
Fume is ranked among the top 8 YouTube channels for “mukbang,” an eating show featuring a host consuming various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. In the case of Fume, she is especially known for the ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) which taps into the trend of streamers recording the noises and sounds that make the audience “feel” something as they watch. She has over 5.3 million channel subscribers.
The Taste of the Marianas is an annual signature event of the Marianas Visitors Authority and was held every Saturday in June, offering affordable dishes from local hotels and restaurants, live entertainment, and arts and crafts sales each evening. Fume was in the Marianas on a familiarization tour organized by the MVA to promote the destination.
‘We’re super excited to share the food culture and hospitality of the Marianas in cooperation with Fume, which has 1.2 billion total views across their YouTube channel,” said MVA managing director Christopher A. Concepcion. “Today’s travelers often want to have unique gourmet experiences in their destination of choice, and we can’t wait to share the variety of flavors from the Marianas on new Fume episode this month.”
Fume also helped judge the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands/NMTech Chamorro Bisteak Cookoff, which pitted six local chefs against each other and a one-hour deadline to create the tastier version of this popular local dish.
The familiarization tour was also supported by Aqua Resort Club Saipan. The Taste of the Marianas will also be featured on Fume’s YouTube and other social media channels. (MVA)
