I think you are extrapolating a lot. If someone asks you ‘where to find authentic…’ are they further explaining all that stuff about never-changing, stuck, or magical time period? Or is that you adding the subtext?
Since you are @linguafood , maybe you already know something about linguistics? Is it possible you are confusing locution, illocution, and perlocution?
I have meals all the time with people of varying culinary backgrounds, and no I have never seen a fight break out, in any sense whatsoever about preparation.
It has meaning because people use the word, ask me, and I respond the best I know how. Just like symbolism, it quickly and effectively replaces pages and pages of clumsy text.
Exactly what the jollof rice with peas example in the opinion piece was illustrating.
Or consider Greek food in the U.S. (largely frozen in the mid-late 60s when immigration to the U.S. occured, I’ve read) versus in Greece today. Which is authentic?
Oh, Steve. Don’t overthink things. I don’t look at eating as an intellectual exercise. I might break my taste buds.
I am simply wondering if all these phrases are actually things people said to you. I realize it is fashionable to put words into people’s mouths, but I’d rather it be food. And great food at that.
Caprese’s a great example. Where do you draw the line? Can you call anything with some type of mozzarella a caprese, even if you replace the tomatoes with, say, ripe peaches? The basil with sorrel? Does it need an asterisk to avoid culture shock? Can you sub a ball of baby bel for the mozz? I was having this very convo with friends over cocktails last night after a traditional Turkish meal of various salatim & a fantastic platter of assorted lamb bits.
When does the dish become so “bastardized” that one has to commit harakiri or recoil in horror and lament?
I was referencing a main point of the article you disagreed with.
And now you’ll have to excuse me – I’m off to find some authentic Berlin pilsner (of which there are good and pretty terrible ones, btw) at a beer garden near me.
Cheers 
I don’t care how it’s served, but for the purpose of this thread if you are going to sell people a caprese salad, you should let them know the ingredients if they are unique.
Recoil in horror? Why do you consistently use hyperbole to get your point across? Of all the literary techniques available you could use zeugma, litotes, metaphor, symbolism, metonymy, and many others.
The folks railing against authenticity are often claiming some extraordinary standard when in reality someone just wants to get a taste of home or to recreate a beautiful sensation from their travels.
Somehow that gets interpreted into something negative. Meanwhile, the very same folks urge people to use words like good or creative or delve further into lengthy explanation when authentic is a nice shortcut that actually works.
The single most valuable aspect of the word authentic is that it eliminates a huge percentage of possibilities. If someone wants authentic Thai food, I can help them steer clear of the myriad places that rely mainly on sweetness and downplay other aspects of the cuisine. Or perhaps I can steer them toward places that have a Thai language menu. Or places that are not freely substituting more common Euro ingredients. See? One word can do all that.
I am well aware of the meaning this term has for you. Your urgency in responding to all of our posts speaks to your investment and what currency it confers.
I have not posted much here in a while which is ironic for a thread I started.
I suspect many have not read the original article I linked to at the start. Start challenging authentic food in Italy and people will make threats against you. It takes a brave soul there to take on the people who have something to sell. I am on the side of the fence that authentic food is mostly hot air. When I hear the word authentic being used in connection with food, its because the user is selling something. Either the food item in question or the expertise of the user of the word. Frankly, most of the time authentic is used, its because someone is selling. And when a salesman is speaking, beware.
Food can’t be authenticated. Its not possible to take a dish and then compare it to some standard and say, yes, this is a true “____.” That’s such a slippery slope and no one can stand on it and not look foolish. Food is not like a bottle of 1990 Petrus or a diamond or a Picasso that can come with a certificate of authenticity.
I prefer food that appeals to me and tastes good. Authentic or not is the last consideration.
By the way @DaBadger I am still seeking a mole that tastes as good as what I had in a Spanish restaurant that I used to go to in the West Village a long time ago before anyone on websites wrote about mole. Probably inauthentic by the supposed “experts” standards who have been to Oaxaca once in their lives. I have had plenty of supposedly authentic versions which weren’t nearly as good.
Authentic and many other restaurant marketing terms seem to me like phrases that are intended to convey something like, “If you order this, you will brand yourself as a sophisticated and knowledgeable diner or a complete rube who obviously has never experienced the real thing.” A waiter who can say of an unfamiliar dish, “It tastes a lot like (insert), but it also has a note of (insert)” is far more useful. I enjoy menus that list the main ingredients and the general cooking method. It leaves me to judge if those things were used well or not. Authenticity has a very few specific and proper places such as saltimbocca, for which there is an approved recipe. I tried it. I think my riff is better. Also for certain ingredients like San Marzanos or balsamic. There are some exceptions, but generally those little DOP markings are worthwhile guideposts. I could see a chef reference being useful. “This is the authentic David Chang version of Bo Ssan.”
There’s so much irony to that statement that I have to wonder if you meant to be. I’ve had the Bo Ssam at the late and much lamented original Momofuku Ssam Bar many times. Its a great group meal. Totally “inauthentic” by standard Korean cooking. But delicious in its own way. Which is the point.
Re: Caprese, I think it needs basil and mozzarella. It becomes a Greek village salad with basil if you swap feta for mozzarella.
So.
Watermelon( peach, whatever), basil and mozzarella is okay.
Tomato, mozzarella and sorrel isn’t a caprese. Jt needs the basil.
Tomato and mozzarella without the basil is just tomato and mozzarella.
Tomato and basil without the mozzarella is just tomatoes with basil. I make tomato with basil , olive oil and balsamic a lot more often than I make a caprese salad or panini.
OK, but here is a real lived example where it is not so clear cut. I worked in an Austrian restaurant in Washington, DC that also served American, Jewish deli, and Pakistani foods at lunch. And one of the items on our rotating menu was soup of the day. Chicken noodle soup, to be exact. Now, one of our cooks was from the Philippines and when he made the soup, it contained green bell pepper. 21-year old me was upset because this was not “traditional” or “authentic” chicken noodle as I knew it. I even lectured him about the inclusion being “wrong” (what a bitch😂).
To me, authentic chicken noodle soup didn’t contain green bell pepper. But to him, it did. Who is to say who was right? Maybe they include green pepper in the Philippines? Maybe his mother made it that way. I think it’s slippery.
I know nothing of David Chang, but after reading his Wiki bio, I would love to sit down to a meal with him.
Korean cuisine or otherwise.
I agree but he is also kind of a kitchen tyrant/dick, reportedly.
Check out his Netflix show Ugly Delicious. So good.
Oh. One of those Gordon Ramsay types? Or a milder version thereof?
For all I know, Ramsay might be a mild version of what kitchen tyrant’dom can look like.
LOL!
On edit: Fixed my spelling of Ramsay.
And it’s similar with chicken adobo and coconut milk. Regional and divisive ingredient.
He was a user of some dating apps while visiting Toronto 
