Do dishes remain the same through their life or are they interconnected with human history? How Gremolata’s recipe is open for change, is yet to be seen.

It’s a pity, food can’t be collected and reserved for the future generations. Thanks to the blessed properties of alcohol some can be saved for years like wine or whiskey but the favorite dishes -that would not only describe a given era but defines it- are gone by the time.

How did people save recipes?

Sure, we can recreate old recipes by using the ingredients we have in hand if in fact we can read the recipe. Some ancient Babylonians about 4000 years ago were similarly concerned about the survival of their culinary heritage and took the extra mile of writing down their recipes.

As those times biros and sticky notes weren’t really at the reach of their fingertips, they used the pinnacle technology of all eras, tablets. As we have iPads and Moses had his stone tablets, Mesopotamians had their clay ones.

Although, writing on clay wasn’t as painful as carving into stones -given that clay was moist enough and the proper writing tool was used- scribbling down a couple of recipes was still required a bit more time than pinning them from Pinterest.

Can we save our recipes?

Recreating recipes in a new era is a bit like the always resurfacing design elements in the always changing fashion industry or a remix of an old song. It must lose something from its past and take something from the present to connect with the people of today.

Sometimes this comeback looks so original that people tend to forget its roots which explains why some people were outraged when leggings made a comeback. Well, true enough in the 80s, they looked slimmer and more colorful so there was less thing to complain about when riding on the Old Town Road.

Would it be worth to save our recipes?

The question is that how many changes something can go through to be still recognizable by its old self. Many dish that we know today like horchata, hamburger, hot dog, monkey bread were in fact completely different just a couple of years ago.

Would it be at all worth to keep the original version of them for future generations? Would they value it, marvel at them like we do when understand that all we have today started from those pieces of stones tightened to sticks lying around in museums.

It seems that so far there are no plans to set up task forces for preserving the culinary heritage of the current era by any government or civil organization though.

Where to save our recipes?

All we can do to preserve our culinary legacy is to teach our children to the art of cooking as all the generations before us. Luckily or not, we don’t have to chisel our knowledge into rocks nor waste paper to record it since we can simply save them into one of our online accounts.

It’s not as secure as stone tablets and definitely won’t survive the collapse of our civilization or Pinterest but with a bit of luck, care and attention we can save the one we have for the next generation.

How to save Gremolata?

Luckily, not all recipes require hours of elaborate preparation and three stages of cooking. Some are as simple as chopping and mixing three things together. It’s a mystery how such a simple recipe can leave some of its past behind to pick up something relevant from its present to stay relevant but in 50 years will see if Gremolata is still spread on stakes as it is done today.

Given that Gremolata is only chopped parsley and garlic mixed with a bit of lemon zest, it leaves a plenty of room for aspiring chefs to experiment with additional flavors. Variations of the recipe have already included olive oil or different citrus fruits that change the texture and the flavor or this simple Italian condiment.

We should embrace its simplicity and enjoy its beauty as long as we can, so when we look back at its life, we do not only see something from the past but something that was part of our life.

Ingredients

1 bunch / 200g Parsley (fresh)
2 Lemon zest
2 cloves Garlic

How to make Gremolata

Rinse the parsley leaves and the lemon then peel the garlic.
Chop the parsley and the garlic up and make lemon zest by grating the lemon.
Mix everything together in a bowl.
Serve it at the table as seasoning or prepare the meat with it before cooking it.

Enjoy!

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