Jonathan Doughty is a global thought leader, consultant, speaker, moderator and C-suite executive in the foodservice and leisure sectors working around the world in retail, transit and leisure. In his final column of 2025, Jonathan speaks about how the past is positively shaping today’s restaurant menus.
In an era defined by rapid innovation and global connectivity, one of the most striking trends in the restaurant world is a movement backward – toward heritage, origin stories and the techniques that shaped cuisines long before modern convenience arrived. This article explores the five major forces driving this shift and the ways in which history is – quite deliciously – repeating itself.
Authenticity
Authenticity has become a global currency, prized not just as a marketing angle but as a core value. Today’s diners want food that tells the truth.
1. Regional cooking defined by place
Restaurants are increasingly emphasising hyper-local presentations of culturally significant dishes. Instead of generic “Italian pasta”, we see dishes defined by the exact region or even village they originate from. This respect for place signals a deep commitment to culinary heritage.
2. Menus celebrating cultural identity
Chefs from diasporic communities are reclaiming their backgrounds on their own terms, showcasing food that reflects lived experience rather than Westernised versions of their cuisine.
3. Avoiding fusion for fusion’s sake
Where fusion once dominated modern dining, it is now approached carefully and respectfully. Restaurants increasingly avoid blending cuisines without cultural grounding, choosing instead to highlight authentic roots before experimenting.
Family Recipes
Family recipes – preserved, adapted and handed down – are becoming the backbone of restaurant storytelling and identity.
1. Generational dishes brought into professional kitchens
Many chefs are putting beloved family dishes on their menus, often as centrepieces. A grandmother’s dumpling technique, a father’s barbecue rub, or an aunt’s stew from childhood becomes a signature item, deeply personal and universally resonant.
2. Home-style cooking elevated with modern polish
Restaurants that once distanced themselves from “humble” foods are now embracing them. Slow-braised beans, stuffed cabbage, heirloom soups and simple breads are appearing in fine-dining contexts.
3. Preserving culinary heritage through storytelling
Menus and servers increasingly share the origins of dishes – not as gimmicks but as a form of cultural preservation. Diners value the narratives behind family recipes, understanding them as living archives of migration.
Real Ingredients
In a world of industrial-scale food production, there’s a growing desire to return to ingredients that are pure, traceable and produced with integrity.
1. Renewed interest in heirlooms and wild varieties
Chefs are turning toward heirloom tomatoes, ancient grains like emmer and einkorn, indigenous spices and wild herbs. These ingredients offer not only unique flavour but also a deeper connection to agriculture.
2. Sourcing from micro-producers and foragers
Restaurants worldwide now partner with small farms, cooperatives and professional foragers. This ensures both authenticity and seasonality – mushrooms harvested the same morning, dairy from heritage-breed animals, or salt from coastal producers.
3. Rejecting industrial shortcuts
There is a marked shift away from processed bases, synthetic flavours and mass-produced condiments. Instead, kitchens are fermenting their own vinegars, grinding spices fresh and producing house-made sauces and pastes.
Cooking Methods
Modern kitchens are rediscovering the wisdom embedded in centuries-old techniques, restoring depth and character that contemporary speed sometimes sacrifices.
1. Revival of open-fire and wood-fired cooking
Fire – humanity’s oldest cooking tool – is once again central. Restaurants from Buenos Aires to Copenhagen are embracing grills, hearths and smokers to produce flavours that no modern device can replicate.
2. Traditional preservation and fermentation
Chefs are reviving curing, pickling, fermenting, drying and aging methods. Whether making kimchi, bottarga, or fermented chilli pastes, these long-standing techniques add complexity and connect menus to ancient culinary traditions.
3. Handcraft over machinery
From hand-pulled noodles and handmade tortillas to stone-ground grains and hand-whipped cream, many kitchens celebrate manual technique. The result is texture, flavour and authenticity that machines cannot mimic.
Food Tourism
International travel has changed the way diners understand and appreciate restaurant dishes. Experiencing the “real thing” abroad influences expectations at home.
1. Exposure to authentic flavours abroad
Travellers tasting Vietnamese pho in Hanoi or Neapolitan pizza in Naples gain a reference point. When they return home, they seek out restaurants that honour those true flavours.
2. Global storytelling through menus
Restaurants now cater to globally aware diners by offering dishes grounded in real cultural experience. A traveller who has eaten tajine in Morocco or ramen in Japan can appreciate menus that avoid diluted versions of those foods.
3. Travellers as ambassadors for authenticity
Air travel, social media and food documentaries have made global cuisine more accessible than ever. People share their discoveries, influencing restaurant trends and pushing chefs to represent cultures accurately and respectfully and embracing a beautiful truth: history isn’t just repeating itself – it’s improving the menu…
