Start Date
26-5-2026 4:30 PM
End Date
26-5-2026 4:45 PM
Description
The modernisation of traditional dishes presents a tension between culinary creativity and the preservation of cultural heritage. Using baklava as a single case study, this paper investigates whether such modernisation leads to the destruction of traditional foodways. Drawing on a qualitative study with seven Turkish chefs, the research finds that innovation does not inherently threaten baklava’s identity. Instead, preservation depends on maintaining the dish’s essential technique—multiple layers of paper-thin pastry—while allowing flexibility in presentation and narrative framing. Participants agreed that baklava’s strong cultural foundation renders it resilient against fusion experiments and deconstructed forms, provided its core qualities remain intact. However, renaming products like the “baklava burger” risks cultural subordination. The paper concludes that modernisation, when grounded in technical and contextual integrity, serves not as a destructive force but as a strategy for visibility and sustainability. Thus, creativity can coexist with tradition without erasing it.
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Does Modernisation of Traditional Dishes Lead to Their Destruction? The Case of Baklava
The modernisation of traditional dishes presents a tension between culinary creativity and the preservation of cultural heritage. Using baklava as a single case study, this paper investigates whether such modernisation leads to the destruction of traditional foodways. Drawing on a qualitative study with seven Turkish chefs, the research finds that innovation does not inherently threaten baklava’s identity. Instead, preservation depends on maintaining the dish’s essential technique—multiple layers of paper-thin pastry—while allowing flexibility in presentation and narrative framing. Participants agreed that baklava’s strong cultural foundation renders it resilient against fusion experiments and deconstructed forms, provided its core qualities remain intact. However, renaming products like the “baklava burger” risks cultural subordination. The paper concludes that modernisation, when grounded in technical and contextual integrity, serves not as a destructive force but as a strategy for visibility and sustainability. Thus, creativity can coexist with tradition without erasing it.