Social Dining is a phenomenon in which lonely singles meet up online to enjoy a meal together at a restaurant or at someone’s place, and is also contributing to the spread of kinfolk lifestyles. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – ‘Kinfolk life’ is a term derived from Portland, Oregon based Kinfolk magazine, which promotes a slow lifestyle by providing different ways for readers to simplify their lives, cultivate community, and spend more time with friends and family, or kinfolk.
The number of such ‘kinfolk’ seekers has grown in recent years in Korea, largely based around members of the younger generation in their 20s and 30s, who pursue a slow lifestyle and value-based consumption. Words like organic, environmentally-friendly food, small wedding, and self-interior design are iconic terms that represent the kinfolk culture.
But despite the lifestyle’s healthy intentions, consumers are more or less compelled to adopt the lifestyle largely due to unrelenting economic pressure and an increasing number of single-person households.
Stagnant domestic consumption, a high unemployment rate, and the polarization of wealth continue to pressure consumers, while an increasing number of single-person households are seeking companions to share their lives with.
Social Dining is a phenomenon in which lonely singles meet up online to enjoy a meal together at a restaurant or at someone’s place, and is also contributing to the spread of kinfolk lifestyles.
“In the past, when Korea’s economy was rapidly growing, people put a lot of stress on being fast,” said an industry watcher. “But the sluggish economy has urged consumers to seek kinfolk life represented by slower, analog, organic lifestyles with an emphasis on family, friends and neighbors.”
The number of single-person households is rapidly growing in Korea, and now accounts for over 26 percent of the national population of around 50 million.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
