Some recipes are quietly disappearing, and a new list curated by food journalist Dan Saladino and author Yasmin Khan wants us to notice before it's too late. Saladino, whose book Eating to Extinction tracks foods at risk worldwide, treats endangered dishes as more than a culinary curiosity. When a dish dies out, he argues, we lose the agricultural knowledge, biodiversity and hands-on skills behind it — practical tools for an unpredictable food future.
The thinking behind the list is refreshingly pragmatic. For thousands of years, communities have experimented with local plants and animals to build survival strategies, often delicious ones. Each endangered dish on the list is an example of Indigenous ingenuity: a way people sustained and enjoyed life in one specific place over the long term.
So what's on the menu? There's Petkhvis Chvishtari from Georgia, a savoury patty of egg and cheese built around a rare black millet variety that grows almost nowhere else. From South Africa comes Mosbolletjies, soft, gently sweet buns raised with mos — freshly crushed grape juice that still contains skins and seeds, giving the bread its distinct character. The Philippines contributes Inanchila, a sticky rice dessert finished with caramelised coconut cream. And in northern Portugal, Cuscos Transmontanos com Coelho pairs slow-cooked rabbit with hand-rolled wheat pasta, a farmhouse dish that takes time and know-how modern kitchens rarely spare.
The wider list reportedly ranges from traditional gumbo in the American South to kettle-boiled bagels and Chelsea buns — foods many travellers would assume are safe, simply because they're familiar. That's part of the point. Even well-loved dishes can fade when the ingredients get rare, the techniques fall out of use, or the communities that made them disperse.
For travellers, this is a genuine call to action. Eating these dishes in situ, asking questions about how they're made, and seeking out the farmers and producers behind rare ingredients all help keep them alive. Food tourism done thoughtfully — visiting regional markets, small family restaurants and village festivals rather than standardised tourist menus — directly supports the people preserving these traditions. It also tends to be where the best meals are anyway.
Anyone planning a trip to Georgia's mountain regions, South Africa's winelands, the Philippines or northern Portugal could reasonably build an itinerary around tasting these dishes before they vanish. Think of it as ordering with a purpose: every plate of Chvishtari or basket of Mosbolletjies bought from its home region is one more reason for the next generation to keep making it.