Taco's Authenticity: Meredith Abarca

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Tanay Gabhawala Assignment #2 Dr. Ferrante Writing 140: 64490 15th March, 2013 Human Perception: The main determinant for authenticity The authenticity of a dish is determined by the person eating it and if he/she believes that the dish represents their belief/idea of the culture behind the dish. If the food that is consumed validates the eater’s perception of the ethnicity of the food that he/she has eaten, it can be considered authentic. The taco’s authenticity is determined by the perception of the consumer eating the taco; however, neither the ethnicity of the chef nor the location of the taco’s creation determines its’ authenticity. An ethnic dish is one that is recognized by the public community…show more content…
As, Meredith Abarca says, “The concept of authenticity marks its presence in multiple settings: media, cookbooks, literature, classroom discussion, and casual conversations with friends and colleagues.”(1) One may observe how Meredith uses herself, as an example to portray that ‘authentic Mexican food’ is, “a double-edged sword, by illustrating the danger of its ideological implications.”(2) She continues to question whether someone born in Mexico can “speak of authenticity in my [Meredith’s] own method of cooking Mexican food?” (2) The article revolves around the fact that due to the constant change in culture, how can one claim authenticity in a particular tradition… One may realize that this question certainly highlights one of the major issues surrounding authenticity of ethnic food. Meredith Abarca uses the example of British advertisement companies that “used Indian natives to authenticate a new invention as part of an old established Indian tradition.” (7) Meredith’s ability to look at the bigger picture can be observed through, “The curry, however, needed authentication in order to sell” (7) which portray the use of false authenticity to promote a food. The use of an Indian’s point of view brings out this fact as, “The irony that Narayan sees is that a dish called curry does not exist in India.” One may thus realize that the ‘authenticity’ of the food can be faked and that if authenticity is determined by the perception of the diner, then, any Indian or someone that has been to India will clearly reject curry as an authentic Indian dish. However, one may realize that this example helps explain that even though the dish does not exist in India, if the consumer of the curry is a local, may truly believe that the curry is an Indian dish and may claim that it is an authentic

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