Because my curiosity has been replaced with a better understanding of the taste of Korean food, I can better appreciate the great pride Koreans seem to have in their national cuisine. In addition, Koreans’ interest in food is matched by that of Italians. What I’ve found most pleasantly surprising about Korean food culture is their use of leafy-vegetable wraps.

After I first arrived in Korea, I went to a variety of restaurants, like a bossam restaurant, a galbi restaurant, and a Korean table d’hote restaurant. They all sold different kinds of food, but wherever I went, they served vegetables with a special sauce.

I now know that it was ‘ssam’ (leafy-green vegetables for wrapping food in), but at that time, I was quite puzzled because I didn’t know what it was or how to eat it. The table was full of various fresh vegetables. I glanced at the table next to me and saw that they weren’t using knives or forks, but instead, they were putting some leafy vegetables on their hands and adding some other ingredients, and I was amazed at how comfortably they ate.

In Italy, we don’t have anything like ssam on the table. But there is a dish that is similar to ssam which is served already wrapped before it is brought to the table. This dish is called involtino, and it is made with sliced meat, sliced ham, and vegetables wrapped up together. While I was watching people eat, I saw them wrap up so many ingredients in the leafy vegetables that I wondered how they could possibly fit such a large amount of food into their mouths. In Korean ssam, you can pack small lettuce leaves with garlic, meat, rice, and other ingredients; there are no rules, so you are free to customize it to suit your tastes in the moment. The diversity of Korean ssam culture seems to have developed because everyone has their own unique way of making it, so new trends start all the time based on people’s innovations.

It’s been a little more than three years now since I came to Korea, and whenever I eat samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) in a Korean restaurant or at home, I unconsciously look for ssamjang (spicy sauce for meat) and lettuce, so I feel like I’ve really gotten used to Korean ssam culture. It feels very natural to eat a variety of foods all in one go — something I couldn’t even imagine doing three years ago. For me, time was the key to adapting to Korean ssam culture. At first, it felt very awkward to me, but slowly I’ve assimilated this way of eating as time has passed. My Korean friends have said to me, “If you really want to understand ssam culture deeply, it’s going to take a considerable amount of time.”

Many Koreans anticipate that Korean cuisine’s superiority will lead to its globalization. Garlic and green onions, which are good for health, are used in many different ways, and there are are many seasonings that can be used in different combinations to create a wide variety of flavours. Korean food has many obvious strengths, including the widely-known advantages of fermented foods, best represented by kimchi, gochujang, and doenjang. However, these might be a little challenging for foreigners who are new to Korean food.

In fact, it is a little challenging to get to know the flavour of Korean food in Europe. One of the biggest challenges is just finding Korean restaurants.

There are more Korean restaurants than there were before, but I think Korean cuisine is not as well represented as that of other countries. There are not many festivals which introduce Korean food, either. If there are more Korean food festivals so that foreigners can easily access, and there are more Korean restaurants with a greater variety of styles, people in other countries would have a better understanding of the savoury flavour that Koreans are always talking about, wouldn’t they?

If, instead of asking people from other countries to suddenly adapt their tastes and enjoy eating Korean food, the deep flavour of Korean food were slowly and consistently introduced, I think people could be introduced to a wide variety of Korean food without any resistance.

I’ve gotten used to Korean ssam culture, but I have one more project ahead of me. That is doenjang (fermented soy-bean paste), which is a favorite of my husband (who is Korean). I think if I try to adapt to the taste of doenjang slowly, someday I’m sure I’ll appreciate it. With this in mind, I again told myself today, “Doenjang…just wait.”