Sans titre

[thuongne]

Authentic Food

So I’ve read this article a few days ago called “Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA” by Ji-Song-Ku, which I found to be really interesting. The article talked about the modified Asian food in the USA and food authenticity in general that touched upon areas that I never thought about.

California Roll is, in fact, not an ‘authentic’ Japanese roll, which can be argued as one of the best Japanese rolls outside of Japan. The Americans prefer cooked food and so California Roll was good due to the absence of raw fish. Spam is another example of not authentic food. Countries from part of Asia and the Pacific used spam in many of their dishes like Japan and Korea. Despite their immense popularity, Spam originally came from the USA and it is the county with the largest bulk consumer.

Both the California roll and take-out Chinese food are considered American inventions that would not be recognized in the country of their supposed origins. When I read this, I immediately thought of Panda Express. I do agree that I don't consider take-out Chinese food to be authentic Chinese cuisine.

I ask myself, how do you define authentic food? Taking a cuisine from my culture as an example, Vietnamese people are fond of street food and small-size shops that are specialized in certain types of food. Small-size shops can be hawkers that traveled on their motorcycles with a small kitchen tied to the back of their bikes which they used to prepare our food. You can tell that these people had been doing this for years by the way they are adept with their utensils to prepare our food. I am sure that Banh Mi is one of the dishes that are most popular in the country and even outside of Vietnam.

If you did not know, Banh Mi is a thin, crunchy crust that contains either chicken or pork; sometimes they even have meatballs.  It is also accommodated with a spread of homemade pate, generous amounts of radish and carrot, slices of cucumber, some mayonnaise, and finally the Maggi sauce. The main highlight of the dish is when people have their first bite of the bread and taste all the sour, savory, aromatic, sweet, and spicy flavors all at once.

However, most didn't know that Banh Mi origins and its intricate foundation are from the French. When the French established colonization in Vietnam in 1897, they brought along their food. Among them, Banh Mi is a baguette that became increasingly popular among the people, since it is easy to make and it does not cost much money, a stable food source for the poor. It is originally just a long thin bread. People used to call this western’s bread instead of Banh Mi. 

I've stayed in the US long enough to taste the Banh Mi that is made outside of my country.

In Ji-Song Ku’s words in Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA on the ideas of globalization food: “either it is authentic, meaning as the “true natives” know it, and therefore delicious, or it is apocryphal, meaning altered by alien forces, most notably via “Americanization”. Looking from a marketing perspective, it makes sense that they change the taste to fit with the locals: if the locals like it, it is likely that they will have a good business. Many businesses have done this. For example, I know for a fact that many foreigners cannot eat Vietnamese “fish sauce”, therefore to serve it in a different culture, the chef puts a lot of water with the fish sauce to neutralize the taste. And it was done exactly the same with Banh Mi. And it is not necessarily a bad thing. I like the Banh Mi that I have in the US, although it did not taste like the one that I used to.

From what I understand from Ku's words: “If it can be said that the health and vitality of a cultural practice are directly connected to innovation, adaptation, and progress, then the changes to food culture taking place in, say, Flushing, Queens, are just as significant as those taking place anywhere in Asia proper.” Maybe the idea of authentic foods is all adopted from different cultures. Just as how Banh Mi is originally from France or the Chinese invented Italian spaghetti. These foods that we call “authentic foods” initially stem from different cultures and eventually evolve into the food that we call authentic today. Ku also suggested: “What is true for language is apparently often true for food. Just as London is no longer—if it ever was, to begin with—the linguistic center of the English language, Asia is not the standard bearer of all ‘Asianness,’ least of all of the food.” In other words, the idea of a food's authenticity is not just based on the people who are native to the food but authenticity is also constantly changing. People’s tastes shift all the time. The Banh Mi that I know today might not be the Banh Mi that was known to the people 100 years ago. The Banh Mi that I experienced in the US is a cultural shift. And who knows, maybe in a hundred years, Banh Mi might become the “authentic” Vietnamese Banh Mi. 

In each region, any dish from any land has its own characteristics, the taste depends on the taste of the local people as well as the fresh ingredients available. I believe that the measure to evaluate a good or bad dish is not only how attractive it is to the locals, but also to the taste of the diners coming from elsewhere.

Banh Mi has nothing unique or delicate in ingredients and processing. It is just a mixture of a variety of ingredients that makes them special. Even today, as I’ve grown up, busy with work, and unable to cook with my mom anymore, I often choose bread from my menu from time to time. Or even when I have nothing to do, I still crave the smell of bread. Perhaps why people wanted authentic food because of its value, and what makes them valuable in the hearts of the people are the memories. I grew up eating every day with Vietnamese cuisines and I became familiar with them. This is what I think when people said they want to eat their own cuisine. It is authentic because it is made in the way they know and are familiar with. This applies to people who want to taste the food of other cultures in an authentic way too. For people that never traveled, the Italian kitchen next door could be their “authentic” Italian cuisine. At the end of the day, “authenticity” is what you are familiar with.