A prominent figure in the Mukbang community (a word stemming from 먹방/meokbang which is a combination of the Korean words for “eating” and “broadcast”), Nikocado Avocado is a trailblazer for Westernized mukbang styles, which usually involve consuming copious amounts of fast food in one sitting.
By | Gianluca Fornasier
His name is instantly recognizable among Gen Z, as he has amassed approximately 1.8 billion views across his 7 YouTube channels and on TikTok, where videos under #nikocadoavocado have accumulated an impressive 3.6 billion views, which in addition to the views on his YouTube channel, make up more than half of the worldwide population.
Nik has branded himself as a temperamental, unstable, and chaotic figure among the internet community, but his life wasn’t always like this. In this article, I will explore Nikocado’s peculiar rise to internet superstardom, his early life, and how now, Nik is faced with a strange dilemma where he must choose either notoriety and success or the chance of living past 30.
Nikocado’s Early Life
Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado, was born on May 19, 1992, in Kherson, Ukraine. His parents were Ukrainian farmers who put Nicholas up for adoption as an infant. He was promptly adopted by American parents, grew up in Philadelphia and attended Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown Pennsylvania.
When he was 18, Nicholas decided to participate in University, where he became a classically trained violinist with dreams of playing in orchestras. Around the early 2010s, Nicholas immigrated to Columbia and lived with his then-boyfriend, Orlin.
It was in 2014 when he started his YouTube channel, documenting his life as a raw vegan and promoting vegan lifestyles. His first mukbang videos were of him and his bird Mr. Noodle, eating fruits, vegetables, and local Columbian produce.
Along with his boyfriend Orlin, Nikocado was one of the most influential vegans on YouTube in the early 2010s, until he wasn’t.
Descending Into Madness
Suddenly, on September 1st, 2016, Nikocado posted a video titled “Why I’m No Longer A Vegan YouTuber”. This video came as a shock to fans as this was such a stark contrast to his usual lighthearted, friendly, vegetable-eating mukbangs. In the video, he highlights how his raw vegan lifestyle was unsustainable and to directly quote him, he says:
“I think vegans are imbalanced, hostile, militant, and mentally unstable, among the different types of groups or communities out there in the world”.
This video marked the end of Nicholas Perry and the birth of Nikocado Avocado. Following this shocking video, Nikocado starts to post videos of him eating fast food, homemade food, and challenges such as the avocado challenge, where the objective is to consume as many avocados as possible.
This was a major shift from his previous content, but fans were not concerned as he was only posting fast food mukbangs once every few weeks, and it seemed as though he was becoming healthier and gaining a healthy amount of weight.
However, things were slowly becoming worse as Nik started travelling more to the U.S. where he would collaborate with other YouTubers such as Wendy’s Eating Channel and Hungry Fat Chick.
He started two more YouTube channels, which meant he needed to post more. Gone were the days of once every few weeks of posting. Now, Nikocado had developed an insatiable appetite for fast food and posted up to 4 videos a week of full-on fast food binging glory.
This type of content garnered the attention of very famous YouTubers such as PewDiePie and was even featured on the T.V show Tosh.0.
This attention would boost Nikocado’s YouTube channel and help him surpass the milestone all YouTubers dream of—reaching 1 million subscribers. However, nobody knew that this milestone would mark the beginning of the end of whatever piece of Nicholas Perry was still trapped inside Nikocado Avocado.
What does Nikocado Represent?
Nikocado Avocado, the controversial, iconic YouTuber though entertaining, represents many issues and problematic ideologies and his recent behaviours are quite deplorable. For example, his videos that depict him and his husband attacking each other can be seen as a promotion of domestic violence and physical assault.
Moreover, his fetishization of binge-eating cannot go unnoticed. Nickocado is actively allowing others to believe that the mass consumption of food is normal behaviour when, in fact, it obviously is not.
Nikocado represents someone who will do anything to become famous, even kill himself. Nikocado does not realize that fame and money are not tickets to happiness and that his health is worth more. It seems as though Nikocado has become completely consumed by the idea of the luxuries that fame has to offer, and these riches are shining so bright that they are obscuring what is truly important, his own health and relationship with his husband. I believe that this quote by Robert Redford accurately depicts the struggles Nikocado is facing at this period of his life:
“Be careful of success, it has a dark side”.