Do You Care if a Recipe is Authentic?

TastyReuben said:
Just one person’s observation: When we lived in the UK in the 1990’s, it wasn’t all that common to see tartar sauce served with fish and chips, at least the places we went.

Now, when we go back for a visit, it seems it’s almost always served with tartar sauce on the side.
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That's a relief. Thanks :)
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Yes I do care very much if a recipe is authentic. I’m not referring only to Italian food of course, in general I really like to find out the culinary traditions of other countries. When it happened to me to see a recipe “my way”, I welcomed it, yet I wonder afterwards “ ok but what is the origin, where it comes from, what is its story, why it is called like that, why that ingredient rather than another one?” and so on.
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If I would do things traditionally here in the Netherlands, I would die of boredom. Our cuisine is misunderstood and certainly contains gems, but that's further back in history than a casual person will endeavour to know.
If I do things traditionally here, I would still be eating boiled potatoes with plain gravy and a piece of meat on the side with boiled veg almost every night. Maybe changing it up by eating that mashed or fries for a treat and sometimes pancakes.

But the good news is, if I don't care for traditions Dutch modern food can be far more exiting than that, as can our ancient food. So I'd rather be unconventional here.
I suppose tradition is very important in Italy of course, but at least you Italians HAVE a tradition!

Here, we need to create one.. And I'm doing my bit! :love:
 
JAS_OH1 said:
You'll find a lot of interesting differences between English food/cooking terminology in the US and other countries. I've learned a lot about that over the past few years of being a CB member.
Do you call it Grilling or Barbecue
UK to US & US to UK Definitions
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Yes. We use the same language but sometimes the individual terms differ enough to cause confusion. It happens in my native Spanish as well. Latin American Spanish is the same as Spanish Spanish but there are many colloquialisms. In Cuba a bus is called guagua colloquially. The correct term is autobus and any Latino or Spaniard would recognize that term. They may not recognize guagua. Sometimes the colloquialisms are universal. Money is called plata (silver) as a slang word everywhere in the Spanish speaking world. The proper term is dinero.

In English grill means different things in different places. So be it.
 
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blades said:
Yes. We use the same language but sometimes the individual terms differ enough to cause confusion. It happens in my native Spanish as well. Latin American Spanish is the same as Spanish Spanish but there are many colloquialisms. In Cuba a bus is called guagua colloquially. The correct term is autobus and any Latino or Spaniard would recognize that term. They may not recognize guagua. Sometimes the colloquialisms are universal. Money is called plata (silver) as a slang word everywhere in the Spanish speaking world. The proper term is dinero.
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Yes indeed! My sister-in-law is Puerto Rican and I have friends who are from Mexico (and I've traveled there extensively) so yes, I'd noticed that. My late uncle who was a Cajun spoke French much differently than the French I learned in high school, lol. It's to be expected. Very interesting, though.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Yes indeed! My sister-in-law is Puerto Rican and I have friends who are from Mexico (and I've traveled there extensively) so yes, I'd noticed that. My late uncle who was a Cajun spoke French much differently than the French I learned in high school, lol. It's to be expected. Very interesting, though.
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Yes but a Cajun or a Quebecois can communicate with a Frenchman without a problem and that is what matters all colloquialisms aside.
 
blades said:
Yes but a Cajun or a Quebecois can communicate with a Frenchman without a problem and that is what matters all colloquialisms aside.
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That made me giggle, lol. I have met a few people here in the US (born and raised here) and had a hard time understanding them! I was raised in the south but I have a neutral accent. I've had to ask people with thick southern draws to repeat themselves on more than one occasion. So just because people are speaking the same language doesn't necessarily mean they can communicate with each other very well.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
That made me giggle, lol. I have met a few people here in the US (born and raised here) and had a hard time understanding them! I was raised in the south but I have a neutral accent. I've had to ask people with thick southern draws to repeat themselves on more than one occasion. So just because people are speaking the same language doesn't necessarily mean they can communicate with each other very well.
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I understand. When I started school in the U.S. I had a Spanish accent which elicited a lot of name calling from the other children. I got rid of the accent pretty quickly. Children can do that pretty easily. Today, I struggle with Spanish when it is spoken quickly. I haven't forgotten it over these many decades but it is rusty from lack of use.
 
blades said:
I understand. When I started school in the U.S. I had a Spanish accent which elicited a lot of name calling from the other children. I got rid of the accent pretty quickly. Children can do that pretty easily. Today, I struggle with Spanish when it is spoken quickly. I haven't forgotten it over these many decades but it is rusty from lack of use.
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I get that, my Aunt Lily (who married my mom's now deceased younger brother) is from Mexico and my cousin in AZ married a gal with parents who were both born in Mexico. And my SIL from Puerto Rico, of course. They all can speak Spanish but like you, they're a little rusty. My Aunt Lily (who lives in SE Texas near the LA border) cracks me up because she speaks Spanish with a southern accent. It's quite pronounced and it sounds pretty funny when she does it.

You are right, kids are mean. I got picked on because I was shorter than most of the other kids. I guess it made me tougher.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Yes I do care very much if a recipe is authentic. I’m not referring only to Italian food of course, in general I really like to find out the culinary traditions of other countries. When it happened to me to see a recipe “my way”, I welcomed it, yet I wonder afterwards “ ok but what is the origin, where it comes from, what is its story, why it is called like that, why that ingredient rather than another one?” and so on.
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I mention chili a lot, and I've made it for years the way I leaned to make it -- a modern version of Texas chili.

When I decided to do some historical research, and try to make "a bowl of red," as it was first made, it was a lot of fun, and made a really great chili. Like you say, going back in time to make something as it was first made (or as close as possible) tell a story.

Americans get a lot of criticism for changing traditional European dishes. But, a lot of those changes were made by European immigrants themselves, when they came here and found different ingredients. They adapted their recipes from back home to use the ingredients that were abundant (cheap) in the US. A Texas standard, Chicken Fried Steak was created by German immigrants to Texas. It was based on the German Schnitzel. It used beef, because that was abundant (and cheap) in Texas.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I mention chili a lot, and I've made it for years the way I leaned to make it -- a modern version of Texas chili.

When I decided to do some historical research, and try to make "a bowl of red," as it was first made, it was a lot of fun, and made a really great chili. Like you say, going back in time to make something as it was first made (or as close as possible) tell a story.

Americans get a lot of criticism for changing traditional European dishes. But, a lot of those changes were made by European immigrants themselves, when they came here and found different ingredients. They adapted their recipes from back home to use the ingredients that were abundant (cheap) in the US. A Texas standard, Chicken Fried Steak was created by German immigrants to Texas. It was based on the German Schnitzel. It used beef, because that was abundant (and cheap) in Texas.

CD
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I agree, moreover making a traditional recipe doesn’t mean to stick to the death to it because it depends on ingredients you are able to find also based on personal taste. However the term “traditional” is something that deserves respect as long as its varieties. This doesn’t mean everything is or must be acceptable though. If one makes Carbonara (just to name one of the most popular Italian pasta dishes) one cannot put in whatever ingredient and saying “ that’s Roman Carbonara”.
Traditional dishes changed during times and that’s why this is often on debate, but more or less ingredients have to be those ones that makes that dish. I’m democratic but not an anarchist 😅
Then I know that us Italians can be such a pain in the arse about food 🤣
We even argue among us in Italy about traditional food!
 
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Windigo said:
If I would do things traditionally here in the Netherlands, I would die of boredom. Our cuisine is misunderstood and certainly contains gems, but that's further back in history than a casual person will endeavour to know.
If I do things traditionally here, I would still be eating boiled potatoes with plain gravy and a piece of meat on the side with boiled veg almost every night. Maybe changing it up by eating that mashed or fries for a treat and sometimes pancakes.

But the good news is, if I don't care for traditions Dutch modern food can be far more exiting than that, as can our ancient food. So I'd rather be unconventional here.
I suppose tradition is very important in Italy of course, but at least you Italians HAVE a tradition!

Here, we need to create one.. And I'm doing my bit! :love:
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I get what you say and that’s more than fine, yet you have a traditional food regardless if ia boring or not fancy.
You also have tradition and I love this!
 
The thing windigo pointed out is pretty crucial. In Germany the most used spices are salt and pepper, everything else is still used like we can't afford it. Many other regions tend to season their food beyond good and evil, if you might ask german folks. Every spice has effects on your wellbeing and some diets recommend to keep track what positive or negative effects each ingredient might have on your body.

When you can adjust your food to your current wellbeing, each recipe will be super individual.

Milk could be one example of diminishing foods in recipes, because it's just not natural for us to consume it, we even had to mutate to be able to digest lactose.
 
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