Avoid the authenticity trap

January 1, 2020 by
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Have you ever looked at Yelp reviews when deciding on whether to eat at a particular restaurant? Have terms ‘authentic’ or ‘inauthentic’ swayed your decision-making? If so, you’ll want to read the article by Mai Tran, who implores to ignore the ‘purists’ and ‘zealots’ who demand authenticity in restaurants.

Tran says that almost always, the term ‘authentic’ is used to describe so-called ethnic restaurants, while it is rarely, if ever, used when discussing establishments that serve European foods. She also notes that the worst critics of ‘inauthentic’ food are often members of the culture on which a restaurant’s cuisine is based. Tran wonders “why do minority cultures, and particularly Asians, cling to traditional food so tightly?”

While relating the many reasons that people of any culture would want to open a restaurant, Tran notes that even if a restaurant opens with lofty goals, it still needs to be a successful business venture, and that sometimes means making changes to suit the restaurant’s patrons. Says Tran, “I’m no less Vietnamese because I’ll enjoy an “inauthentic” vegan phở, or a bành mì made by a Senegalese cook. There is no such thing as authentic food. Eat what you want, and enjoy it.”

Photo of Vegan pho from The Guardian Feast supplement by Uyen Luu

Category: Antipasto

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3 Comments

  • sir_ken_g  on  January 2, 2020

    The other extreme and a common one is people who are clueless about a cuisine.
    No Chinese food is not all about buffets, take-out, egg rolls and won-ton soup.

  • MarciK  on  January 2, 2020

    I don’t always know what “authentic” is in a particular ethnic cuisine. Sometimes I probably wouldn’t even like the more authentic dishes. However, I’m not big on fusion cuisine, and if “inauthentic” in any way indicates there may be fusion dishes, as opposed to Americanized, I generally skip it, with exceptions. If I’m familiar with the authentic cooking of a particular culture, like I am with German and Vietnamese, I do prefer authentic dishes because these evoke something I would have eaten at home or in someone else’s home, so there’s a nostalgia factor.

  • lkgrover  on  January 2, 2020

    I want my food to taste good and be nutritious, whether or not it is faithful to its tradition. From my cookbooks, I have enjoyed Italian-fusion pasta recipes from Peru, Thailand, and Uruguay; also a Chinese-fusion seafood recipe from Chile. However, I value my ethnic cookbooks for having authentic recipes, because I feel more confident in knowing the true cuisine via cookbooks than only from American restaurants. (Now if only I had more money to travel….)

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