Bill D. I don't like it either. But there it is.

I like your cooking analogy, except I think deviations from strict traditional forms have to be evaluated carefully, for preservation takes two forms. There is the formal historical preservation by which you maintain a thing exactly as it was, like an orchestra trying to perform an old classical piece with the same instruments it was originally played on. The idea being to recreate it as the composer originally concieved. This is the idea behind museums too. Yet preservation also occurs when elements of a tradition are used appropriately to create something new and valuable but still of the essential flavor as the original. Part of the rationale of maintianing the old traditions in their pure form is to provide the inspiration and motivation for new creation. What irks are those case where a tradition is not expanded but narrowed. Italian cooking is a great example. You say Italian and people think of Pizza, Pasta and Tomato sauce. But Italian cusine is an amazing branch of the culinary arts. Italy is a seafaring, maritime country. The seafood cooking tradion alone is amazing. But if you prepared a classic tuna with peppercorns and red wine dish, most people wouldn't recognize it as Italian cooking. This is a case where the deviation from the full tradition has been one of watering down or oversimplification, and that never assists in the preservation process.