How authentic?

If the food's good, authenticity can take a back seat. Unless it was touted as highly authentic. But I'll take quality before worrying about authenticity in general.

Sounds like this was neither.

Phil

But you mentioned Penzeys in another thread--if you want authentic, go with their Indian and Asian blends.
I used their Tandoori blend for years, and had a chief steward who was constantly asking me if my Chicken Tandoori was "authentic", ****, I didn't know.
When I had my first meal of chicken tandoori in Kathmandu--IT WAS SPOT ON!! hehehehe

[quote=shipscook;178314]But you mentioned Penzeys in another thread--if you want authentic, go with their Indian and Asian blends.quote]

This is nice to know. I usually grind my own mixtures, but it might be nice to have some ready made mixes on hand for quick meals and last minute preparations. Thanks to you and OregonYeti ...

Shel

How authentic can you really get before you've crossed the line? I hit Haliburton, On about a month ago to see a friend and they asked how close to authenitc their only chinese restaurant in the area was. Well gee, typical S&S chicken balls and veggie fried rice was the closes authentic item they have. But if these same people were to actually go to China and have real authentic food, they wouldn't eat it. Snails, dog, snake, eel, pigeon are typically things not found on a menu from a typical North American establisment but they're all over the place in China, its too foreign to be sellable here. I hate when people want authentic without knowing what goes into the dish and cringe wondering "WTF IS THAT?"

Not to high-jack this thread - but where did belly dancing originate? I'm thinking its Turkey but I'm prob way off.

At least you had a good laugh Yeti :)

Belly dancing is practised all over the middle east, but particularly in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt (or at least I've seen it in all those countries!)

There's a terrific (and pretty authentic!) Moroccan restaurant, Imperial Fez, in Atlanta, GA that has not one but three belly dancers. :crazy: It's a great place for a group, since the food is served family style. And the chef/owner is Moroccan, so he does his best to keep the cooking as close as possible to home, although of course he uses American ingredients.

That to me is the crux of the "authenticity" debate: unless you bring in all the ingredients, water, cooking apparatus, etc., the food can't possibly be really "authentic." But so what, if it is delicious, and doesn't make egregious substitutions?

Authenticity will always be subject to local interpretations and the ingredients/equipment available, take for example a tandoori oven. How many places outside of India would actually have one? And someone who knows how to use it?

Also of course how does one judge authenticity unless you have been to that country and eaten where the locals eat their local food? I guarantee that some people who enjoy eating asian cuisine outside of Asia, if they then went to eat real Asian food cooked by Asian cooks in Asia with local Asian ingredients would find it a great deal different (it doesn't have to be Asian, it could be any country, I'm only using that as an example because I've been there and found it so much better). The best thing, i believe, to do if you are lucky enough to travel and have the great chance, eat home food of that country with a local family. The experience will be memorable.

Its a tough ask sometimes to be truly authentic, but when you find a place that suits you and you are happy with it, hold on to it and treasure it like a jewel! And recommend it to like minded friends.

DC - I think you'd find that nearly every 'Indian' restaurant in the UK has a tandoor oven - maybe fuelled by gas nowadays, but still 'authentic' by todays standards!

There was - and maybe still is - a local restaurant that served fish lip soup. It's been several years since I've eaten there, but it may be worth checking out again.

Shel

The basic question is, seems to me, how do you define "authentic," putting aside any specific instance.

In the first place, almost all ethnic cuisines are drawn too broadly. We say "Indian" or "Chinese" or "African" as if these were monolithic wholes. In fact, each of them is composed of a diversity of cultures, cuisines, and worldviews.

Why is it that we don't say "European?" Simply because we recognize the differences between French and German; English and Baltic; Italian and.....whoops. Now we're back to the basic question. Is there a French, or a German, or an English, or an Italian cuisine? Of course not. There are, within each of those countries, regional differences.

Looking to identify those regional differences, what we find is not so much specific recipes (although those certainly do exist), but, rather, an approach to preparing food. How is it that the people in X province look at the preparation of available foodstuffs, and how does it differ from the people in Y province?

There is another aspect of the problem. In any specifically identifyable regional cuisine we recognize that each housewife prepares a dish slightly differently, doing something that makes it her own. Not only do we recognize these differences, our tendency is to applaud them. Why, then, are we unwilling to make the same allowances for a restauranteer?

So, perhaps that's really the answer. "Authentic" is whether or not the cuisine in the restaurant reflects the outlook of the ethnicity it purports to portray---given the constrictions of available foodstuffs and the taste-orientation of the customer base. If it does; if the menu is true to the culinary outlook of the ethnicity, then I, for one, would call it authentic.