Experimenting with Singaporean food; the true cultural melting pot!

Singapore is the home of true fusion cooking… A place where Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures mix with a heavy dose of being an old British colony… and so when I wanted to make a recipe from Shu Han Lee’s wonderful cookbook Agak Agak but I was out of lemongrass and cabbage, I relied on my understanding of the ingredients to make substitutions… But was that disrespectful? Or practical? I often think, in the modern world we can run out and buy anything and everything we want- but new recipes often came about originally as a way to survive! So are we bound to following tradition or can we change it? What are your thoughts? Happy cooking, friends!