[Kitchen Talk]A branding lesson from the experts

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[Kitchen Talk]A branding lesson from the experts

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Italian Ambassador Massimo Andrea Leggeri. By Jeong Chi-ho


Mamma mia! Is Italian cuisine huge here. You practically fall over a restaurant on every corner.

It has gotten to the point where Italian Ambassador Massimo Andrea Leggeri refuses to name his favorite Italian dish because he doesn’t want to play favorites.

No restaurants, no regions will be named: that’s what the embassy personnel drilled into my head before I met the ambassador.

But I am a reporter! Once you have the interview, it’s about getting the story.

Fired up, I meet Ambassador Leggeri, who started his tour here in the summer of 2006. Hands are shaken, pleasantries exchanged.

I ask him the inevitable question. As expected, he stands his ground. I sigh. But I keep drilling. Hey, even the Berlin Wall fell, right?

But it’s no use. Diplomatic immunity is about the only thing stopping me from using the interrogation skills I honed in Iraq - eh, I mean here.

Instead, Ambassador Leggeri, offers me a consolation prize, and one that I admit I found quite useful. Did you know that every year, the Italian Trade Commission publishes a Guide and Directory of the Italian Restaurants in Seoul, which is a booklet of Italian restaurants here that the commission deems worthy of mentioning for their authentic food.

“We don’t include fusion style,” said the ambassador in a flat tone that suggested no disobedience.

At the ambassador’s residence in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, a simple Italian salad was prepared for me that looked quite Spartan. Italian food aficionados know the true value in an Italian salad. The right mix of pasta and salad dressing can spice up your taste buds. But I am too busy chasing the story, and the salad gets neglected.

Ambassador Leggeri is one of the youngest people to enter the Italian Foreign Service. He has had tours in Brussels, Brazil and Algeria, but this is his first time in Asia.

A little-known fact is that he is also a member of the “Pyongyang Club,” an informal group of envoys here who hold also the title of ambassador to Pyongyang.

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An Italian salad.

Italy was the first among the G7 Western countries and the European Union to open diplomatic relations with North Korea in 2000. This history has nurtured a degree of mutual trust between the two sides, leading to the establishment of an Italian-language directorate at the University of Pyongyang in June this year.

There is no residence in the North but there is an office. Cooperation between the two countries is strong in the cultural department as Italian experts have been working for years on Goguryeo artifacts.

“Last month, restorations of two tombs of Goguryeo started,” said the ambassador. For a country that accounts for 70 percent of Unesco-designated World Heritage Sites, I guess the skill of restoration comes naturally.

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Guide and Directory of the Italian Restaurants in Seoul

Italy started its engagement of the North with emergency cooperation, aid in the health sector and the establishment of medical facilities such as a maternity hospital in northern Gangwon Province.

“One of the pillars of Italian diplomacy is to entertain dialogue, especially with difficult countries,” said the ambassador. Someone should listen to this given that inter-Korean relations are at subzero temperatures right now.

Seasoned ambassadors like Leggeri know instantly when they have to tread carefully. I asked him why there aren’t more Italians venturing to the Land of the Morning Calm.

He responded that it’s not just Italian tourists, but other Europeans, too.

In a survey of 7,000 foreigners conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization, South Korea placed second to last among eight countries as an attractive tourist destination.

To say that catchphrases like Sparkling Korea, Soul of Asia or Hi Seoul! are not cutting it, is putting it mildly. These phrases may ring a bell with the Koreans who coined it. But foreigners?

Maybe it’s time we take a clue from Italy, which is the second largest market in the world for trade fairs and exhibitions such as the Fiera di Milano, which altogether attract about 17 million visitors annually, not counting pure tourists.

The ambassador singled out one thing that is known as distinctly Korean.

“Everybody knows Kim Ki-duck in Rome. Everybody. Korean movies are an important vehicle. Nobody thinks he is Chinese. They know he is Korean,” said the ambassador, who attended the recent Busan film festival.

It does make you think. If the traditional approach of projecting a “mystic Asian culture” - China and Japan being clear front-runners - does not work, maybe it’s time to shift the focus onto what does.

Today, all roads may not lead to Rome, but Italy’s intangible soft power is radiating far beyond its boundaries. The Italian Embassy here has launched an “Italia in Corea” campaign, with activities ranging from seminars by prominent Italian professors to jazz festivals. It’s the second of its kind after a similar initiative was launched in Japan, demonstrating how much importance is placed on Korea.

“It’s all about relative attractiveness,” said Leggeri.

When I told him that a female colleague held a steadfast belief that in Italy even the road sweepers are handsome, he said sheepishly, “I agree, of course, but there is a potential ... conflict of interest!”

People hold onto fond memories like treasure boxes that they carry around for the rest of their lives, and these are the stories they tell. Maybe it was a fling with an Italian that hypnotized my colleague but this does tell you one thing: It’s all about branding. Talk about an Italian job well done.


By Brian Lee Staff Reporter [africanu@joongang.co.kr]
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