Let’s start with a simple question:

How do you know if something you cooked tastes good? How do you know it’s “authentic”?

See, food is a bit like words. Words mean very different things to different people. For example, “scharf” is the German word for “spicy”. The average spiciness of “scharf” is significantly lower than “spicy” in other parts of the world. Most Germans find freshly grated horse radish suspicious, whereas the neighboring Austrians love the stuff.

So then, if you cook a dish from a different culture, how do you know you made a good & authentic version of it?

Find out where it’s from, go there and eat it. A lot of it.

Couple of years ago me and my partner went to Rome. We had Bucatini all'Amatriciana at three different places. It blew my mind: I’ve had it before at home, but I haven’t had it.

If you can’t go there, find a restaurant in your city and someone who can vouch for it.

Truth is, if you do neither of these things, even if it’s delicious to you, how do you know it’s the real deal and not something completely different?

Research technique, ingredients and cook it. Lots of it.

I’ll obsess about a single dish until I can taste the memory I made.

Find all kinds of recipes in English, find recipes in Italian and translate them, until you know which ingredients actually go into something: Schinken? Nein! Guanciale? Si.

Even canned tomatoes make a difference. I have a pandemic amount of peeled canned San Marzano tomatoes. If I find something cheaper or local that tastes the same, I’ll switch.

Feed it to your taste buds

Serve it to your friends and see how they like it. People who’ve been to Rome will give you their honest opinion. Talk about your obsession: You might even get a personal tip from an Italian friend while taking a break from dancing. Ugh, so Berlin. I’m looking forward to making my pasta for you some day, Davide :)