Today’s theme: 혼밥 (Honbap, eating alone)

Food has always played an incredibly huge role in Korean culture. The communal aspect has long been a part of Korean dining - this is reflected in the many side dishes that fill the tables and surround the large communal dish from which diners collectively eat out.

And yet all that is slowly beginning to change. An online discussion on eating alone in Korea in 2014 featured no mention of the term 혼밥. Now, however, it’s a different world. News reports, magazine articles, youtube videos, and apps all heavily feature this term and its many spinoffs. There has been a lot of changes in South Korea recently - in the political landscape, the ethical values, the boardrooms of businesses, and on the very tables on which the inhabitants of this fair land now eat - often alone.

>>>The Conversationalist with university students 백유진 & 신유진

Do university students do more or less “honbap” than other people?

Have you heard of any restaurants that are changing their style for “honbap”?

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Bella DePaulo

- visiting professor in Social Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara

- author of the book How We Live Now: Redefining Home and Family in the 21st Century

Common perception is that singles would be more isolated and lonely than people who live with family. But you said studies show otherwise?

A government-sponsored study here showed that people who eat alone for all three meals have a higher chance of becoming obese. What's your tip for eating alone in a healthy way?

>>>A Few Minutes with Amos

I don’t shop often but when I do,

I always just leave my cart or basket in a corner out of the way.

I can’t stand people who slowly push their carts with one finger through

the middle of the aisle, stop to look at the shelf,

put their cart another inch, then stop again.

Also, there are people who carry their baskets with them

and take up twice the space of a normal person….

>>>Next week: Audition programs