Italian Embassy to hold 'World Week of Italian Cuisine'

Italian Ambassador to Korea Marco della Seta, left, and Vice President of Italian Chamber of Commerce in Korea Alberto Mondi, right, pose with Yoo Jung-suk, CEO of Italian restaurant Terra 13 in Seoul, in this November 2017 photo. Yoo is the winner of last year’s Ospitalita Italiana prize. / Courtesy of ITCCK

By Kim Jae-heun

The Italian Embassy in Korea will hold a World Week of Italian Cuisine in Seoul from Nov. 19 to 23 as part of its government's global initiative to promote Italian food in 110 countries.

This is the third year the Italian Embassy will be hosting the event here along with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ITCCK), Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul and Italian Trade Agency.

The main theme is Mediterranean seafood, which UNESCO has selected as intangible cultural heritage. Olive oil has been adopted as a representative of the Mediterranean diet at the Korean event, and experts will run seminars while offering food tastings to promote its nutritional value.

“Seafood is a huge part of the Mediterranean diet and a strong element of the Italian food culture. It is a symbol of healthy cuisine,” ITCCK Vice Secretary General Jacopo Giuman said. “It is getting popular around the world nowadays.”

The Ospitalita Italiana, an annual event to award prizes certifying restaurants that are authentically Italian, will be held Nov. 19 at Section A in Yongsan, Seoul, as part of the World Week of Italian Cuisine.

Section A is a newly added authentic Italian restaurant along with Al Choc, to 20 Ospitalita Italiana-certified restaurants registered on the list.

“The Ospitalita Italiana is granted to all Italian restaurants around the world that are able to embrace deeply the authentic Italian tradition and culture while promoting it through their business. For many years, the Italian government wished to create a global restaurant network that allows the realization of events aimed at the enhancement of the territories of origin of typical products and therefore, use this network to guarantee the authenticity of the typical Italian brands through the promotional events,” Giuman said.

Six more events are scheduled for the third week of this month including an award ceremony for “My Secret Italian Recipe” on Nov. 19, a “Discovering Italian Olive Oil” seminar on Nov. 20 and “Business dinner con lo chef Davide Cardellini” on Nov. 21.

“My Secret Italian Recipe” will award a journalist who has produced the most popular Italian food content and an influencer who has shared a unique Italian recipe on social media.

The “Discovering Italian Olive Oil” seminar will invite various experts in the field including ingredient master Paolo Rocchi to share information about the nature of olive oil and where and how it is used.

“Agriculture is an important sector that raises the state value of Italia and it has been recording consistent growth in exports. We've witnessed it here as well with import of Italian food increasing 20 percent this year compared to that of last year. This shows how much Koreans have high preference to Italian food,” Italian Ambassador to Korea Marco della Seta said.