Okay, I’ll ask again. Who decides what the “authentic” version is?
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I had a graduate school friend who absolutely adored HH. But he loved Wonder Bread, too - IIRC he’d tear out the middle of a slice, mash it into a ball, and eat it.
Admission: as a kid I liked to eat powdered Nestle’s Quik directly out of the can with a little spoon.
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Everything you have listed changes. What does authentic mean to you for the list?
Clothing is extremely perishable. The concept of fashion inherently means things change. Rituals change a lot too. I was raised in a Catholic household. Went to Catholic schools. What Catholicism means has changed several times through its history. Language changes with frightening speed. Terms that the cool kids used when I was a kid mean nothing to the kids today. And so on and so forth.
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I have absolutely no idea what “authentic” clothing would entail - can you give an example? Because so far I don’t understand. Authentic agriculture? Language?
IMO the term traditional would work in most of your examples (tho perhaps not language, unless we’re going back to the primal language), and have a more tangible meaning.
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Better yet, what would unauthentic clothes look like?
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Now I’m worried I’m wearing fake pants.
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So your authentic chicken chow mein contains rice and not noodles. Got it. Lol.
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Maybe we should all go back to loin cloths? Full-on nudity? I just… I don’t… 
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It isn’t? LOL
I actually love meat sauce over rice. One of my favorite Italian restaurants makes what its calls a keto lasagna. Meat sauce layered with eggplant. Its great.
I also like hamburger helper. Mom made it all the time. At one point I introduced my wife to it. She had never had it before. Made a new convert to the HH church.
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On a tangential point, if it is that difficult to decide what “authentic” is, that makes it even harder to condemn any sort of cultural appropriation.
Because if there is no good way to tell if it is truly authentic, how could a person be wrong to use or wear it?
Or would cultural appropriation be more of a case of “I know it when I see it.”?
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I find it impossible, myself, but I’m often lonely in this.
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I don’t want to skirt too close to topics we aren’t supposed to discuss but I feel that those who get most worked up by supposed cultural appropriation often belong to a certain part of the political spectrum.
If it weren’t for cultures appropriating foods and techniques from other cultures, most of the food we eat wouldn’t exist
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If you are asking about Chicken Chow Mein, I would assume ‘containing noodles’ is a good place to start.
Correct. “Authentic” is a marketing word without any deeper meaning than what we might want to make of it. Nothing is “authentic” in any kind of serious way. We’ll just have to disagree on this concept & co-exist on enjoying much of the same foods.
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And that’s the part I think I’m on! But maybe not?
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If we ever wind up sharing a table at Indian Table (or elsewhere in the neighborhood) we can discuss this. If I read you right, I don’t think I agree.
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I’m not. I’m asking about “authentic,” the blanket term you are defending. You staunchly refuse to identify a (for want of a better term) governing body that gets to define whether this or that or the other version of something is “authentic.” And without that, it’s meaningless to search for “authenticity.” How would you recognize it if you found it?
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I just asked the question, I did not state an opinion.
By stripping away the 99% of what’s around me which caters to a clientele weaned on boneless skinless white meat chicken. Or an increased reliance on sugar. Or not offering certain dishes or ingredients that might upset that sensibility.
You continue to think there must be some governing body to give it meaning. What is the high authority that determines what ‘love’ is? Or perhaps it’s ridiculous to use that word.
Again, when someone expresses dissatisfaction with the dumbed down version of their favorite food, and uses the word, I don’t get in a debate about it. I recognize it’s a great word that is a symbol. It is a shortcut that explains a lot. I know what they mean, and if I can help them with a suggestion, I do. I will usually pick out very specific dishes that I hope will get to the heart of what they are seeking. My success rate is pretty good.
See? No governing body. No high authority. Just people using great words to communicate.
