Italian in Korea?!!!

Turns out it's the locals' favorite non-Korean food. I asked why and was mostly surprised by the answers: Korean and Italian people share the same temperaments (?!), both countries are peninsulas (!!!), and everyone loves garlic (well, duh). On my first full day in the country, I had the wicked good luck of having Italian for both lunch and dinner--much to the embarrassment of my poor host (who simply couldn't believe that I really love the stuff). A shared lunch for three included caesar salad, garlic bread, pizza, risotto, and three pastas. The salad and pastas were excellent and mostly traditional. The pizza options, though, gave me a flashback to England where they top their baked potatoes with the likes of tuna and corn. The host chose sweet potato--thinly sliced, fortunately--and avoided more, uh, "interesting" combos like gorgonzola with honey dipping sauce. For dinner it was caprese salad and more risotto. Funny thing is that the lunch planned for Friday's conference was also to be Italian, but my host was so horrified at the prospect of three Italian meals for me that she switched it to the best Indian restaurant in Seoul. Yum all around!