Sorry. I did not mean to come across as instructive. I agree that green bell peppers do not seem to be much of a soup thing.
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I apologize if I have not made myself clear on a number of fronts.
I know that the word mein in chicken chow mein means noodles. The restaurants, not me, are using the nomenclature. I am just telling you factually what was written on the menu, and what my father ordered all the time, without exception.
I have not said anything about what constitutes good. Just like in movies, books, or music, I have a list of favorites, not best.
I do have a history of expanding my horizons on many fronts, including food. So I do encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and explore, if they have the choice. If they donât explore, then there will come a point when itâs not really a choice anymore. Their tastes will be limited to what they liked from a long time ago.
Dude.
We. All. Do.
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Mod note here: This topic has run its course and the discussion is getting unnecessarily contentious. Letâs agree to disagree. I will leave the topic open but if the temperature keeps rising it will be locked.
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I am perfectly ok with however the soup is made. It is a question of expectations. If a chef makes a matzoh ball soup and uses pork fat, then I would not consider it authentic Jewish cuisine. Whether it tastes better or not or whether I would order it or not is another question.
Oh yes, I do appreciate that itâs not a unique quality on HO. I was using my little homily as an illustration.
I might consider it good or even better if a restaurant offers the stuff that does take one out of the comfort zone, an opportunity to stretch those tastebuds. Even though I do not say automatically the food is good or better. Itâs an opportunity.
I donât feel a need to post about myriad foods that are simply good but unremarkable.
Like @sck said, letâs disagree without ad hominem posts.
My dislike of the word authentic in many contexts is due to its use as a word to denote what one group values over something else.
Its fine to use authentic for things that can actually be measured and verified. As I posted before, an authentic bottle of Petrus or a Picasso or even a Channel bag as those are things that someone may produce a fake and try to pass off as authentic. There is no fake food. Thereâs food you like and food you donât.
Authentic food items such as DOP or AOC certified cheese is about protecting market share and pricing power. There is no reason that a cheese made a certain way and produced in Emilia Romagna would be superior to a cheese made identically in Wisconsin. Authenticity is embraced to enhance sales.
If you go back to the original story in the FT, many defenders of authentic food use the notion of true or real food to exclude. Not to broaden and be more inclusive. Real âxxxxâ food for real people of âxxxx.â Our food is better than the food of foreign interlopers.
Steveâs example of Thai is intriguing to me. The most well known Thai dish in the US is likely pad thai. This dish was practically created in a test kitchen. It didnât organically originate from some Thai grandmothers toiling away over a fire while their families worked the fields. Then it was pushed by the government because rice was in short supply. A dish created in the interest of Thai nationalism post the overthrow of the monarchy. Then shipped out to the world with government support.
The most inclusive example of food I love is how every immigrant group after settling in America adopts the Thanksgiving turkey but dresses it up and supplements it with food from where they came. Authentic? Hell no, but getting invited to Thanksgiving meals like this have always been fabulous occasions for eating wonderful food.
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Overall, I think your post is fine. However, I think Iâd still worry about any use of the word authentic, other than for marketing purposes. Is the bottle genuinely Petrus? Well, yes it can (hopefully) be ascertained that it isnât a fake made by some knock off winery. Same with a Picasso. But these (Petrus, PicassoâŚ) are brands, not the general proposition that Steve, in my opinion, keeps putting forth which, as I read it, is that you can steer someone to an authentic Thai restaurant. I fully agree with him when he points out what is clearly not âauthenticâ, but thatâs not the same. Yeah, La Choy aint authentic (for many reasons) but that doesnât really help in defining what is. So, the bottle of Petrus might be authenticated as a Petrus, but is it more of an authentic Merlot than any other variety (as long as theyâre using Merlot grapes)? Or, is it even more of an authentic French wine than the swill I sometimes drink? Is the Picasso an authentic French painting any more than the couch art Iâve seen in France? Maybe (maybe?!) Iâm a little too pedantic on this, but hey, its an authentic comment.
This is an interesting take, and maybe even a common one, but I donât have a problem with someone who is Mexican (as an example) wanting a taste of home. They value it because it is rare, depending on where they live.
Like Iâve said before, the inauthentic is all around us. I donât see the point of talking about it. Everyone has already found those places and pretty much knows what they taste like, franchises and all. A place that takes more care to maintain a fidelity to a family recipe, yes that is rarer and hence more valuable.
As for me - I am not Mexican and my travels there are almost zero. But if I ask someone I respect about Mexican food where to get an authentic taste then yes I am all ears.
Except that âinauthentic,â as you define it, doesnât necessarily mean not good. So you would refuse to discuss good food if it didnât clear your âauthenticityâ bar?
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Is language authentic?
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Anyone else craving take-out chow mein? 
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It depends.
One of my college roommates used to eat Chef Boyardee cold out of the can. (Even when we had a full kitchen senior year in the nicest suite in the dorm.) I think it was a carryover from boarding school.
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A couple of nights ago, my wife was craving low end Chinese take out. You know, the mass produced egg rolls and egg drop soup that made us what we are today? So we got some delivered. And I just realized, thanks to your post, that Iâve been writing my comments while eating the re-heated âegg fried riceâ they sent with the order. Too bad we ate all the crispy fried noodles with the soup.
I grew up having Kraft Dinner (Mac & Cheese), Alphagetti, Libbyâs Zoodles, Chef Boyardee Rollercoasters, a Chinese tv dinner or a Swanson Hungry Man tv dinner for dinner when a babysitter was hired, when my parents were heading out.
I doctor Kraft Dinner today.
Now, Stagg Chili and the occasional Chunky Clam Chowder are the only meat-based dinners in a can that are kept on hand.
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I did this too but Iâm not boarding school type. My knowledge of Italian food from my youth is pretty weird. I grew up eating spaghetti with sauce enhanced with hotdogs. One of my all time Italian bastardizations and something I make today. Chef Boyardee was often in our pantry. At the same time when my dad was teaching one of his fellow profs was Italian from Italy. They lived across from us and my mom and the wife of the Italian prof became friends and she taught my mom to make some very good traditional Italian dishes that hardly anyone at the time would have been eating down south. So was my motherâs lasagna authentic or not when she was taught by someone from Northern Italy who was taught by her nonna?
Can you translate that to Spanglish? 
Hah. Me too. Except ours was pasta in white sauce with chopped up hot dogs, finished with ketchup. Oh yeah. This was a treat when dad was away on business travel.
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My mom, who is dealing with early stage dementia, wanted Chinese food for Christmas dinner and before I got excited to pull out my wok, I pushed her a little further on that and it turned out she just meant Chinese-American delivery. So, I ordered a bunch of old school favorites on Christmas Eve and reheated accordingly! Her tastes are reverting to simpler ones over the last several months and Iâm working with it. I was overjoyed to send a bunch of it home with her when her visit ended. Win win.
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