05/20/2026
Reflection time, please make yourself comfortable and get your popcorn… 😉
“La tradizione non è nient’altro che un’innovazione radicata nel tempo.”
“Tradition is simply innovation that has become rooted in time.”
— Italian Chef Luca Montersino
I read this sentence while sipping my first espresso of the day, today, and it resonated with me on many levels, probably even in a slightly different way than Chef Montersino originally intended.
His provocative question was more or less this: what would a Sicilian grandmother from the 1600s have thought the first time she tasted one of those so-called “traditional Italian” tomato-based dishes, considering tomatoes did not arrive in that land until the mid-16th century?
Would she have considered them an insult to tradition?
That is often the reaction, especially on social media, whenever a dish is not prepared by strictly repeating the exact structure and ingredients it has supposedly had “forever.”
His main point, I believe, was that this intolerance toward experimentation, while often meant to preserve history, can sometimes also prevent innovation.
Applying this concept to my own everyday professional life, I feel that working with any cuisine while living and cooking in a different country often means constantly searching for that precious balance: respect for tradition and authenticity, while also adapting to the reality of the time and place in which I live.
Ingredients change. People change. Lifestyles change. Even our understanding of food and health evolves.
Sometimes adaptation comes through necessity, sometimes through creativity, and sometimes simply through experience.
But maybe that does not betray tradition at all.
At least I do not see it as a betrayal, as long as I remain transparent and clear about where the inspiration comes from.
Take my Pasta alla Zozzona, for instance, a dish inspired by a very traditional Roman preparation that normally involves guanciale. Until recently, that ingredient has not always been easy for me to source consistently in this area.
I could have substituted it with commercially produced pancetta, which is much easier to find, but instead I made the very intentional choice of using a locally made bacon that I love and source from one of my farmers instead of grabbing a package from the supermarket.
Traditional? Bacon? Come on… 😉
And yet, undeniably delicious, I don't care what the haters out there say :D .
Most importantly, when I make that choice, my clients will always hear the reasons behind it.
Maybe many of the dishes we now call “traditional” were once someone’s innovation too, repeated enough times to become part of memory.
I feel that when we try to stay knowledgeable, aware, and respectful while also remaining open-minded, that is when we achieve the best we can in the kitchen, wherever we are in the world.
That thought stayed with me long after my coffee, as you can probably tell… 😉
I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject, if you care to share them with me.
Chef Daniela
cucinamore.net
