Viral high school students mukbang nutritious food for free, say thank you to Prabowo Subianto

foto: TikTok/@xiigarettess

High school students celebrate Free Nutritious Meals with fun Mukbang.

The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program has been in the spotlight since its launch on January 6, 2025. With more than 190 locations in 26 provinces, the program has created positive waves on social media, especially among students.

Recently, a group of high school students took advantage of this opportunity to create a Mukbang trend. In their TikTok upload, one of the students expressed his gratitude by saying, "Insulted but not defeated, given free mukbang food, bro," on January 14, 2025.

The students also thanked President Prabowo, tagging the Gerindra Party account in their upload. Mukbang, which comes from Korean, is the activity of eating large amounts of food while interacting with the audience. In Indonesia, this phenomenon has become increasingly popular thanks to the many vloggers and influencers who broadcast their eating activities.

Although it was not broadcast live, the students recorded the moment and shared it on social media. In the video, they are seen piling their food together, with rice in the middle and side dishes around it. One of the students even started eating with his hands, while the others were busy tidying up their food.

The menu presented in this program is managed by the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) appointed by the National Nutrition Agency (BGN).

The identities of the students' schools are not yet known, but netizens' reactions were quite varied. Several comments stated, "Yes, that's an example of being grateful for blessings," and "Do you realize that free meals also reduce the number of school truancies," showing support for this activity.

Another netizen added, "SD picky eater, SMA all you can eat," highlighting the difference in eating behavior between elementary and high school students. Several other comments also described how enjoyable the free and abundant lunch was.

BGN chief Dadan Hindayana said the government plans to increase the budget for the MBG program in 2025. President Prabowo is targeting 82.9 million beneficiaries, including school children and pregnant women. Currently, the Rp71 trillion budget is only enough for 17.5 million beneficiaries.

Dadan said that to achieve the target, an additional budget of around Rp100 trillion is needed. The final decision on this additional budget will be determined by President Prabowo.

(brl/red)