Rice links food culture in Korea, Italy
Rice grains in a carrier blanket/ Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
Rice is staple food for Koreans, Italians from birth to death
By Jung Hae-myoung
For Koreans, rice is at the beginning and end of their lives. It is not just a food ingredient but a source of life. From the first birthday of a child, to their last day in this world, rice plays a critical role to sustain their lives with its symbolic meaning. We find similar importance of rice in other countries that we might not have thought of ― such as Italy.
Italy is known to be home to pasta, yet there are also many dishes that involve rice because of its long history. Some say that crusaders brought it to Italy, and others credit Arabians as the ones to bring it to Sicily through Spain. Until early medieval times, people considered rice as a medicine, and by the end of 1300, a lot of recipes were made using it.
At an event during the “2019 Italian and Korean cuisine and culture exchange week,” held at the Korean Cuisine Culture Center, Tuesday, the theme of the occasion was “Italian food meets Korean.” Guest chefs including Korean food artist Lee Jong-kuk and Italian chef Palma D'Onofrio teamed up to showcase dishes from their own cultures using rice.
Questioning why we have to pay attention to the “cultural marriage” of Italian and Korean food, Kay Park, manager of the Korean Cuisine Culture Center, said “K-food is one of the most advantageous sectors that the food of our daily lives can grab attention in international food society.”
She added, “Italian gourmet culture has already spread around the world, and this can be an opportunity to introduce more varied Korean dishes to the world, having synergy with Italy.”
Risotto alla Milanese is a traditional dish from Milan that is cooked with butter, onions and saffron, and sprinkled with edible gold glitter. The risotto is said to pay homage to Gualtiero Marchesi. / Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
A classic risotto made with mushrooms, vegetables and beef stock / Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
At the showcase, D'Onofrio cooked two types of risotto ― the classic one and a special risotto giving homage to Italy's great chef Gualtiero Marchesi. Marchesi's risotto has a yellowy gold color compared to those using creamy tomato sauce, adding saffron, salt and Italy's extra-virgin oil. She also mixed a bit of white wine and stirred until it made starch.
“Adding saffron means the risotto represents food during the Renaissance. At that time saffron was used to boast of wealth,” D'Onofrio said.
Having heard the event's theme, “Rice story,” D'Onofrio was quick to accept the request to participate.
“I wanted to tell that there are lots of recipes involving rice in Italy too. Many people think rice is only used in Asia, but this is not entirely true,” she said.
She also said the showcase was especially inspired by the history of Italy. “I was inspired by dishes from 16th- and 17th-century Italy, different kinds of regional foods, and even street foods in Italy that are popular,” she said.
At the food checkout, there were some Italian foods quite unfamiliar to Korean people including Arancine Sicialane, Sartu Napoletano, Tiella Pugliese, and Risotto alla Milanese. Arancine, which means “orange” due to its look, is a deep-fried rice ball filled with Ragu sauce, mozzarella cheese and green peas. The rice balls seemed and tasted similar to “joomeokbab,” a rice ball eaten frequently in Korea, if it were fried once again like a shell.
Arancine siciliane is a traditional dish from Sicily, which consists of deep-fried rice balls filled with Ragu sauce, mozzarella cheese and green peas. / Korea Times phoyo by Jung Hae-myoung
Korean food artist Lee Jong-kuk showcased “song-gi tteok,” a rice cake made with powdered pine endodermis and sticky rice. He also made rice with seaweed as a main dish.
On why he presented song-gi tteok, Lee said: “Our ancestors made rice cakes out of the bark of pine trees. I think this also fits the trend in contemporary society emphasizing the value of nature, because song-gi tteok gives the taste of it, and it is a great honor.”
As a chef who underscores curation and plating, he made seaweed rice in a cube shape. “I shaped into a cube in order to deliver the message that we should live right and neat,” he said. “Like so, rice can contain a small philosophy of the chefs.”
The seaweed rice was not marinated with soybean sauce or any other sauce, in order to enliven the real taste of nature. “Korean sauce is made by nature. Sunlight, water and time make it. Especially for the seaweed it has a bit of beautiful salt taste to it, when it pops inside the mouth,” he said.
D'Onofrio, who was watching Lee making his Korean food, said she was amazed by the variety of food that Koreans make with rice.
“I think there are many cooking recipes with rice. In Italy we mainly use it in the risotto, but Koreans use it in vinegar, wine, syrup and even grain syrup jocheong.”
If there should be any other important ingredient for Italians, D'Onofrio said it would be “extra-virgin olive oil.”
“It has been used for a long time in Italian history. It was first used for lighting in lamps, but after it came into the kitchen it was used as an important ingredient in all food,” she said.
Rice in a cube with seaweed is showcased at the 2019 Italian and Korean Cuisine and Culture exchange, Tuesday. The dish was made by Korean food artist Lee Jong-kuk./ Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
Jocheong shows how Koreans make use of rice in various ways./ Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
Paula Ciccollela, the director of Instituto Italiano di Culture de Seoul, explains why Koreans and Italians use different kinds of rice when making Italian food.
“It is rare to see Italian rice here, because in Korea there is a lot of rice (already). But some Italian dishes are obliged to use Italian rice, which is very different. So we would like to promote on this occasion that this recipe is based on rice,” Ciccollela said.
“Food is very important in any way. It is capital to our life, living longer and better. Now in our society the most important thing is food education. Everybody knows that it is very important to have good nutrition and habits. You can find out that food should be tasteful and healthy at the same time today.”
She emphasized that “food is culture,” and that they also have food appropriate for different occasions that mark different points in life.
“Korea and Italy both have long histories of cuisine, and they are both deemed as healthy food. With the food of both cultures, it is important to talk about taste as well as health,” said Sunjae Mayul, president of the Korean Food Promotion Institute. “It seems that Italian food as much as Korean food is well-suited for the body.”
“Many people from abroad only think about kimchi when talking about Korean food. As pizza and pasta are not the only Italian cuisine, kimchi is not the only food that is in Korea. Like chef Lee carried tteok around the neighborhood, I also have memories for giving out food that my grandmother made,” D'Onofrio commented.
“As shown through food, Italy and Korea are a lot closer than we usually think.”