What Does ‘Authenticity’ in Food Mean in 2019?
"Chef Preeti Mistry tweeted that “Curry is a social construct” and continued with a thread about the word’s confusing relationship with Indian cuisine. “#currypowder is to India what #italianseasoning is to Italy… a fucking joke, amirite?” they wrote. This year, writer Khushbu Shah echoed the sentiment, tweeting that only “colonizers” eat curry. The semantics behind the word “curry” are long and complicated, but the argument arose because, among some white people, “curry” has become a catch-all phrase for all Indian cuisine, a flattening of the varied and multicultural cooking of more than 1 billion people. Both Mistry and Shah argued that no self-respecting South Asian chef would be caught dead with “curry powder” — the yellow miasma of spices often used to “jazz up” a mayonannaise-y chicken salad — in their kitchens. For these two, it was just another example of how their cuisine has been butchered for a white palate.
While it might seem obvious that a spice mix sold by McCormick wouldn’t be considered authentic, things got complicated as more Indians and South Asians — the pseudonymous food writer My Annoying Opinions prominent among them — argued that plenty of Indians use curry powders and list curries on their menus, and that just because British colonizers are responsible for the widespread and limited understanding of curry doesn’t mean Indians and South Asians haven’t made it their own...
Lucky Peach’s book 101 Easy Asian Recipescheekily billed itself as “100% inauthentic,” putting okonomiyaki in the same book as “Mall Chicken.” New restaurants like Call Your Mother and Nightshade ditch verisimilitude for a more open-minded approach to their cuisines, with Call Your Mother advertising itself as “Jew-ish.” The authenticity is not the sell, and in fact, it sounds a lot like “fusion.” It’s clear that something about the conversation on authenticity has changed, broadening into a debate about innovation, interpretation, and change and recognizing that no cuisine, or culture, is static. Welcome to Authenticity 2.0.
Authenticity wasn’t always such a weaponized term in the food world. “I was reading the intro to Madhur Jaffrey’s book An Invitation to Indian Cooking, and she uses the word authentic a lot as a way to distinguish between the food that’s served in restaurants and what’s eaten at home”...
[In 1993] while the culinary world still absolutely appreciated what was seen as authentic, chefs and diners were also finding it almost boring. The restaurant world had exhausted each cuisine so much that “it seems the only culinary frontiers left are a mix of multiethnic themes.”...
“Today’s American has much greater exposure to diverse cultures than an American 20 years ago. And as once-exotic things like sushi or yoga become mainstream, we seek new, more niche markers of cultural authenticity”...
When it came to restaurants serving European cuisine, Yelp reviewers associated authenticity with white tablecloths, elegance, and an overall positive dining experience. However, authenticity at non-European restaurants more often meant cheap food, dirty decor, and harried service...
"‘Oh, the authentic Chinese place is the hole in the wall with the bad health reading,’” says Krishna. “It’s gotten associated with so many negative stereotypes, like for something to be authentic it has to be an uncomfortable dining experience. The minute Indian food is served in a fine dining setting, it’s maybe not as authentic anymore"...
In an attempt to right past wrongs, food writers and publications directed ire toward these white chefs who were only trying to draw attention to food they loved. “We didn’t celebrate women. We didn’t celebrate chefs of color. We didn’t celebrate chefs of different nationalities. We didn’t celebrate LGBT communities. We never celebrated that, for how many years?” Talde says. And instead of shifting coverage to spotlight marginalized chefs, the media blamed white men for taking up too much space. “I think the question should have been asked: Why haven’t you been writing about these people?” Talde argues. “Why is it just now that you want to latch onto these dudes who are doing this?”...
As white chefs face outrage for cooking cuisine that isn’t their own, nonwhite chefs are saddled with guilt or confusion for straying from tradition. Both situations are driven by the notion that European food is upscale and innovative, while basically everything else is inherently cheap, casual, and stagnant...
Francis Lam’s mom happens to be a big believer in authentic Chinese cuisine. He says she’ll dismiss certain Chinese-American establishments as catering only to a Western palate, instead of serving the food she grew up with. “It’s certainly not exclusive to white people to say, ‘Oh this doesn’t taste like how dishes with this name would taste if you were to have them in China,’” says Lam, “But she’s not coming from a place of exoticism or wanting to be cooler than your foodie friends. For her, it’s literally wanting to taste the thing that we’re supposed to be tasting, even though [China isn’t the same] anymore. So it’s a different place of need and it’s a different motivation.”"
This is funny, because in Asia authenticity is judged the same way and Asian food is viewed similarly.
I like how it's assumed that white people's motivations can't be as pure as ethnic people's
Related:
Yelp Reviewers’ Use of ‘Authenticity’ Is White Supremacy in Action
"The restaurants most impacted by this difference serve Mexican and Chinese food... While it might seem good to label restaurants as authentic, the usage of the term builds an authenticity trap where reviews reinforce harmful stereotypes that then become nearly impossible for restaurateurs to shake off...
Momofuku kingpin David Chang has widely discussed his dislike of expectations for low-priced ethnic food"
Naturally, Asian Americans share this sort of article while unironically bashing "inauthentic" food
Lots of Asians (even in Asia) denigrate Western food as pricey and/or are unwilling to pay more for Asian food. One told me that if a food is more expensive than it would be in its country of origin, he wouldn't pay for it