Twitch now lets you watch people eat

Twitch streamers can now broadcast themselves eating food as the primary draw of their broadcasts, thanks to a newly launched category — "Social Eating" — on the popular streaming platform. If you want to stream yourself eating large quantities of pizza, Chinese takeout, empanadas or even just a full bag of dry ramen noodles, Twitch is apparently now cool with that.

The new Social Eating category on Twitch was quietly launched this week, and sits alongside other non-gaming categories like Twitch Creative, where streamers can broadcast their drawing, painting, musical and other artistic pursuits.

The Social Eating category on Twitch references "muk-bang," a type of online broadcast popularized in South Korea where streamers would eat huge amounts of food while chatting with their audience. Prior to the launch of Social Eating, muk-bang and eating-focused streams were considered against the rules of Twitch Creative, according to the category’s FAQ.

Twitch Creative was launched in 2015 — right alongside the 200-hour marathon of Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting.

Social Eating on Twitch isn’t blowing up just yet. Only a handful of Twitch streamers are currently broadcasting their dinners, snacks and desserts — one streamer is just eating an entire cake by himself — online right now. Expect that to change as streamers catch wind of the rule changes, come up with creative eating streams or simply develop an appetite.