A study of social change and dining culture in Korean society : the case of Honbap (혼밥)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the social change and dining culture in Korean society by emphasizing in Honbap (혼밥), which means eating alone. In Asian countries as Korean society is a collectivism society which people are strong in-groups for a long time, unlike the Western countries where people are in individualism society. The influence of collectivistic values includes the dining culture in Korean society as eating out. Normally, Korean people usually prefer to eat with friends, family members, colleagues rather than eating alone. Eating alone in public looks strange like an outcast, it is hard to find Korean people eating alone in a restaurant. But nowadays, the prosperity of technology, modernization and westernization affects Korean society, the individualistic values also expand among Korean people through the Western culture and also impact to values and demographic change such as late marriage, low fertility in Korean society. The value change not only affects the social change, but also affects dining culture, and eating alone trend gradually occurs in Korean society.