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pp.120-127
To identify "Gongsik", defined as food-sharing by picking food from a common plate using personal utensils, we conducted 7 focus group interviews including 47 university students during a 6 month period. Focus group discussions were audio taped, transcribed, and categorized into major themes. We divided Gongsik into the following categories: practical reasons, socio-psychological reasons, boundaries, suppressive situations, emotional characteristics, attitudes towards using different utensils, and future prospects. Gongsik appeared to be useful for fostering quick food sharing, intimacy and solidarity, and a fixed behavior learned at home. If the amount of food was too small to provide individual servings, as in Jjigae, Gongsik was likely to occur spontaneously. Family, close relatives, friends, and lovers sharing common activities and/ or blood ties were composed the boundaries of Gongsik. However, Gongsik was avoided in elegant restaurants or in view of foreigners. Participants showed mixed feelings towards Gongsik. Gongsik conducted with a spoon was considered to increase the degree of suggested intimacy in a food sharing context. Half of the students believed that the practice of Gongsik would be maintained into the future. Gongsik is a culturally-specific behavior that includes both positive and negative meanings. Aside from improving understanding of the cultural aspects of food-sharing, we suggest that the negative aspects of Gongsik related to the issue of hygiene be considered in food and nutrition education.
