Traditions.

Through our lives we have being surrounded by family traditions. One of our local traditions (at least for cubans) is New Years Eve. The must trditional food on that day is moros, salad, yuca and lechon (which is a rosted pork). The meat, which is the specialty is prepared by being seasoned one to two days before the day and then roasted slow since the morning for a perfect flavor.
People can learn really good things from local or regional practices or traditions. Reagional or local cultures would teach us new meanings to traditions that maybe we have practice or seen being practice before and did not know what it ment. Helping us understand other traditions and cultures.
I think that what makes a dish traditional is the originiality that it has. Or if we decide to created or update an old plate of food into a new one and promote it through the rest of the family members.