i think it depends on setting a lot of the time. for example, in "ptolemaea" because it's a westernized setting, i use "mother" & "father" to show the distance that kookv have from their korean roots since they're both born in texas & raised there, distancing them away from their korean roots. in other work, like "for you, i'd become the moon" taehyung acknowledges verbally his grandmother as "halmoni" but thinks "grandmother" just so my writing doesn't come across as a strange, koreaboo influenced work. as far as food goes, i use their traditional korean names because there's no point in using a translated one, in my opinion. no one really translates italian dishes or anything, so i think respect for the culture outweighs what's easier to pronounce.

i think as an author, you can balance these things out in a way that suits your writing style or what your preferences are !! if we catered only to our readers, we'd never grow or challenge ourselves to put our best writing forward.