ASMR & Food?

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response otherwise known as ASMR has been one of the hottest trends on the internet. ASMR videos are videos of people making a various number of sounds and whispers, referred to as triggers, in order to stimulate a part of your brain in order to trigger a tingling sensation, in your brain/head and sometimes even down your spine. This sensation has been around since the beginning if time, but was officially coined by Jennifer Allen in 2010. Youtube has become the primary hub for these types of videos. You can seach for any type of ASMR triggers that you prefer the most and are almost guaranteed to find something, because as of 2015 “ASMR” gets more youtube searches than things such as “candy” and “chocolate” people or “ASMRtists” have taken notice of this trend and hundreds of ASMR videos are uploaded every week, there are currently 5.2 million videos currently on the site. These videos are made using binaural microphones to create a surround sound effect that, when you use headphones, creates the sensation that you are in the same room as that person.

Similar to a trend that started in South Korea called a Mukbang or broadcasted eating where the host of the video would eat an enormous amount of food and discuss it on camera, ASMRtists have begun to incorporate food into their videos. It initially started with triggers as simple as whispering and tapping on different objects, but because each and everyone of us is different, we can find the stimulation of ASMR in many different ways. Eating is just one example of the new triggers that have blown up in popularity. I personally don’t really care for the sound of somebody eating, but for some people the sound of the crunch into a nice juicy pickle or the crispy munch of a burger can be exactly what that person needs to get tingles. The list goes on and on with ASMRtists pushing the limits and experimenting with new triggers all the time, you can easily find ASMR videos or people eating veggies, sushi, fruit, fried food, snacks, you name it and there is probably a video of it. These videos are primarily targeting a very niche audience, but some of these ASMRtists have over a million subscribers to their channel. While this may be a strange concept for some to fully understand, these videos can sometimes be therapeutic to the listener and can provide a means of relaxation and good vibes.

While food ASMR may be one of the most popular and fastest growing genres of ASMR, there are many of different types of genres similar to having different types of music. Many people who are into ASMR claim that it helps them to unwind and has helped to combat things like anxiety and depression. If this sounds interesting to you, I recommend heading over to youtube to check it out, you might just find something you enjoy. Happy tingling!

What food would you do a food ASMR video to? Let us know in the comments below!