Dietary Behavior and Food Preferences of Buddhist Monks in Korean Temples

This study aims to provide basic data for healthy dietary habits and for developing standard menu plans for a nutritionally balanced diet by surveying the dietary behavior and food preferences of monks in Korean temples. A self-administered questionnaire was applied to 536 monks aged 19 or older living in temples. The questionnaire investigated general matters, dietary behavior, dietary evaluation, meal satisfaction, and food preferences. The study population comprised 41.2% of men and 58.8% of women. In all, 43.0% of the subjects responded that they are healthy whereas 12.5% felt weak. The meals in temples were prepared either by monks and civilian assistants together (56.8%), or only by monks (15.9%). The subjects felt that the difficulty of the temple’s diet was a ‘nutritionally insufficient diet’ (44.5%), followed by ‘strict eating discipline’ or Balwoo Gongyang (30.7%). The side dishes with high preference scores were roasted deodeok (4.44 points), roasted laver (4.00 points), and salads (4.02 points). Our study results indicate that the subjects had good subjective health conditions and relatively desirable dietary behaviors. The intake of calcium-source foods (milk and dairy products) and protein-source foods were relatively low. Therefore, it is necessary to provide nutritionally good snacks between meals and find ways to increase calcium and protein intake. In addition, there is a necessity to develop and provide a standard diet plan reflecting subjects’ food preferences.