Feb21

son-mat.

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not my salad, but what i sure was hoping for

—

craving a fresh greek salad

 cut and chopped

the ingredients 

added

a lovely greek dressing

mixed it all together

dug in

ready for this fresh taste

but somehow not as good

as when i get it made

by my fav greek coney restaurant

even though

i use the same ingredients

put it in the bowl the same way

something is lost in translation.

—

the korean word son-mat describes the specific, irreplaceable flavor of someone else’s cooking.

it’s what was missing when we attempt to recreate our favorite dishes at home.

 

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88 responses »

  1. I love that there is a word for it. When our children were little my friend and I would go to each other’s houses for lunch. Always cheese and tomato sandwiches. All ingredients bought from the same place. But I always said hers tasted nicer than mine and she said mine tasted nicer than hers. So we were both experiencing son-mat.

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  14. This might sound a bit kooky but I actually think it’s not that easy. Something to do with the size of the pieces and the ratio of each ingredient to each other – there’s a bit of nuance with salad.

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  17. Son-mat – I have to remember that one! 

    Their dressing surely did not come from a bottle and maybe they used Greek oregano vs some other. The olive oil, the vinegars, etc… so much goes into that flavour.

    I love Greek salad and my sister makes a wicked one.

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  19. What a great word! I LOVE words. With my French spoken Swiss husband we converse in F/G/E, mixing words and languages like a tossed salad and all the ingredients together make it a perfect meal. I also love Greek salads, make them myself, always – but I think I like anything Greek anyway. Always a ‚holiday‘ feeling ….

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  32. It must just be universal that food always tastes better prepared by someone else..I think we can taste the love that way…which makes everything taste better, right?

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  37. This happens often. I love the new word. A funny thing happened recently. I adore Cheesecake Factory Factory’s Shiela’s Avocado and Chicken salad. I started making my own version at home. My daughter brought me the salad on a recent visit. I liked my version much better. What a pleasant shock it was.

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