Italian cuisine in Korea
By Choe Chong-dae
.jpg?w=728)
In the early 1980s, I was frequently invited by H.E. Archbishop Luciano Angeloni, then Italian Holy See Ambassador to Korea, to dinner at Italian restaurant La Cantina, so that we can share interesting views on Korean history, culture and religion. Since then, I have become familiar with Italian cuisine and its various specialties such as pizza and spaghetti.
Designated as Future Seoul Heritage No. 2013-084, La Cantina is one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Seoul. Located close to Seoul City Hall, it was built in 1964 as part of the Samsung Insurance Building. With its brick walls, leather booths, intimate atmosphere and authentic Italian cuisine, the restaurant has attracted many foreign and Korean gourmands for over five decades.
Food is an important part of Italy. Since ancient times, cooking and eating have been major components of Italian culture, vividly reflecting the country’s history, regions and traditions. Italians have passed on their cooking skills and knowledge from one generation to the next. Italian cuisine’s unique character is a result of centuries of testing in family kitchens.
It would be difficult to describe the Italian cuisine without mentioning “The Silver Spoon,” one of the most influential and bestselling Italian cookbooks over the past seven decades. Originally published in 1950 by famous Italian design and architectural magazine Domus, “The Silver Spoon” has become an instant classic. As a result, a select group of cooking experts was commissioned to collect a variety of traditional Italian home cooking recipes and to make them available for the first time to a wider, modern audience. In the process, they updated ingredients, quantities and methods to suit contemporary tastes and customs, at the same time preserving the memory of ancient recipes for future generations.
Regarded as a bible for authentic Italian home cooking, the Silver Spoon now features over 2,000 updated recipes and is illustrated with 400 brand new, full-color photographs. A comprehensive and lively book, its uniquely stylish and user-friendly format makes it accessible and a pleasure to read for understanding the tradition of Italian culinary arts.
The new updated edition features new introductory material covering such topics as how to compose a traditional Italian meal, typical food traditions of the different regions and how to set an Italian table. It also contains a new section of recipes by celebrity chefs specializing in traditional Italian cuisine, including Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Tony Mantuano, Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone.
Recently, “The Silver Spoon” was translated into Korean by food critic Lee Yong-jae, and the Korean edition was published by Minum-sa Publishing Group. The book’s launch ceremony took place at the Italian ambassador’s residence on Nov. 23, 2017.
In addition, the Italian Embassy in Seoul hosted the World Week of Italian Cuisine on Nov. 20 to 26, 2017, under the themes of quality, sustainability, culture, food security, the right to food, education, identity, territory and biodiversity. The event aimed to promote culinary traditions and high-quality food-and-wine connoisseurship as a distinctive trait of Italian identity and culture.
Italian food and wine have gained tremendous popularity around the world, including in Korea. Korea is a target market for Italy, as illustrated by the volume of exchanges between the two countries in the fields of trade, culture and people. Approximately 800,000 Korean tourists visit Italy each year.
As foreign wine is becoming increasingly more attractive to Korean consumers, the Italian government should put special efforts into promoting not only high-quality Italian food and wine pairings, with reference to the numerous labels guaranteeing the quality and origin of Italian wines, but also reasonably priced fine dining and drinking for Korean gourmands.
Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co. and director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at choecd@naver.com.