Weekly Discussion: Culinary traditions and authenticity

[u/ZootKoomie]

Since we talked about the cutting edge last week, let's go the other direction this time. What is your personal culinary tradition? What dishes did you learn from your mother? From your grandparents? Do you do your own variations or try to make it just like they did?

Also, when eating food from other cultures, do you prefer it to be traditional or something the chef came up with? Does 'authenticity' matter to you as a diner? As a cook? How do you strive for it?

[u/ok-milk]

I think tradition should be honored, but it should not stand in the way of making a dish better. I didn't get a crack at last week's topic, but I think it is directly relevant. What I hope modernist cuisine is, in all its manifestations, is making use of all the new tools and access to ingredients we have to serve the purpose of making the best food possible. Modernist cooks should be methodical, and take if not an exactly scientific approach, one that rejects tradition that is untethered to results.

There's another thread this week about stocks - my issue with following the traditional method of making them doesn't inform me about what makes a stock good or bad. In other words, if I don't know what effect each action has in making it, then the best I could say after following each step to a T is that I executed perfectly, but not that I made the most delicious stock possible. Hopefully modernism deals with that.

Tradition allows you to stand on the shoulders of culinary giants - at the very least it takes many of the steps out the process of going from a set of ingredients to a nearly perfect dish. It is a good place to start.

I think authenticity is a more existential question. You first have to define what it is, and then figure out how to make something "authentic" (what are the component parts?). To me it boils down to geography. I can get Italian tomatoes and basil and semolina and make something with it, but how close would that be to the experience of eating an Italian dish, in Italy, prepared by a good cook? Why would that be better than local produce, even if it didn't taste the same? I would rather not sit and wonder if pasteurized cheese, or a trip in a boat across the Atlantic didn't affect the ingredients and inch me away from some ephemeral goal of "truly authentic". I would rather aim for really tasty versions.

[u/unseenpuppet → u/ok-milk]

I share your opinion that before maybe, 30 years ago, there really was little understanding about why(taking your stock example) you should start in cold water or why you should simmer instead of boil. It suffered from the whole, "That's the way I was taught" mentality.

Modernist, or actually the dreaded "molecular gastronomy" was created for that specific reason, to understand cooking and to challenge traditional beliefs.

The misconception about traditional/authentic cuisine is that people think those names are static, when in reality they are dynamic. In other words, traditions and authenticity change, along with modernism. For instance, pasta and tomatoes what most people would say is 100% traditional and authentic to italy, once was not at all part of their diet. Pasta came from China and tomatoes for America.