After traveling around the world, trying and tasting various cuisines, I came to realise that it is far more difficult to recreate authentic dishes and pass the know-how to other cooks. Many chefs strive to create something new or innovative based on the traditional recipes, however, I find this trend is quickly fading.
I too have made this error in the past, and understand now why dishes, dating back to more than 100 years ago continue to remain popular among the public. There is no need to add exotic ingredients to an already delicious dish. I believe people, for quite some time now, are and have been returning to the “cuisine du terroir” – regional cuisine, comfort food, and recipes passed down from generation to generation, like grandma’s recipes.
It’s important to focus on our core traditions, when exporting foreign cuisines to other countries. Not only do we represent a country, we are also sharing a part of its history and culture with others who wish to better understand them. So let’s not waste anymore time recreating what has already been passed on to us in perfect form. The focus should not be on changing the past, but rather celebrating its legacy, and passing it on, as is, to the younger generations.
Salvatore Cuomo
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Published by Salvatore Cuomo
Salvatore Cuomo was born in Naples, Italy, in 1972, son of an Italian father and Japanese mother.
Cuomo was first inspired by his father who also was an Italian Chef in Naples. He began at the young age of 11, where he trained himself in the kitchen and traveled frequently between Italy and Japan. He gradually learned how to blend the traditional Italian art of cooking with the Japanese art of perfection.
A few years later he traveled to Japan with his father who opened an Italian restaurant in Chiba in 1984. About those early years Salvatore told the press that it wasn't a good starting experience: "I didn’t like Japan at all, so after one year, I went back to Italy and spent 2–3 years studying at a culinary school. When I was 18, I returned to Japan after my father became terminally ill and I have been here ever since."[3] Cuomo said that Italian Cuisine was just starting to get popular in those days. He and his two brothers decided that in order to succeed in the restaurant business in Japan they would have to understand the Japanese food mentality. They spent a couple of years researching the market before opening a new restaurant in Tokyo with what Cuomo calls "Original Neapolitan pizza."
Since that time, Cuomo has been credited with catapulting Neapolitan pizza to fame in Japan, and today in all Asia with over 100 restaurant.
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