Here’s the missing link that led to the finding about the existence of Paul’s Kitchen in the LA City Market Chinatown.
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Great article!
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Fantastic article. Thank you @artzlin for sharing. TY @chandavkl for writing it.
Taking a wider view of authenticity has opened my mind. I remember eating Korean Chinese food for the first time in the early-2Ks with my HK born co-worker. We didn’t know what to make of it and branded it in-authentic Chinese food. Reflecting on that now, I realize our knowledge was too narrow from a Canto-centric point of view. We’re lucky in the LA area to have access to an expanding myriad of Chinese food and folks in this community that have a wider viewpoint of the landscape.
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I suppose it depends on what you consider “original”. These days just about anything that exists over time seems to gain its own ‘authenticity’. I find that with words as well. If it gets used long enough and widely enough it winds up in the dictionary Kinda offends my senses sometimes though
enough it finds its way into the dictionary. Kinda offends my personal values sometimes though.
Very informative.
authentic: the way mom or auntie or grandma made it
It sucks, but as much as individuals we feel like language is static, the reality is that language has always been dynamic and ever changing. Just look at how English has drifted from Shakespeare, to newly independent America, to early radio and then cinema, and now just look at the different slang that Millennials and Zoomers use, the change has been quite substantial even between two generations. Not to mention the word Millennial has taken on new meaning 
The gradual evolution of language has been happening probably before we even had the concept of something like a dictionary and did not stop when they were developed. You’d think surely now with essentially free and unbiquitous access to definitions of words at any time and place it would stop, but humans be humans 
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Or what mother (or father) took me to (if you ate out a lot as a kid).
For me, I released the idea of “authentic” at least a few yrs ago (in part b/c of discussions here) b/c I realized that what I thought was “authentic” was what my parents liked, what they exposed us to (in terms of restaurants), and perhaps what was relatively close to what they might’ve eaten they were in Taiwan… 50 yrs ago. But they almost never visit Taiwan, and presumably food in Taiwan has changed a lot in half a century.
And, so, unless the chef/owner is making freq trips to the originating country, even relatively “authentic” restaurants in the US run the risk of becoming at least outdated, if not seeming more frankly unfamiliar and “inauthentic” to more recent expats.
For me, I really only care if a place is tasty and if it’s NOT advertising itself as “super authentic.”
So my own thesis about Chinese American food would be more that it shouldn’t be an object of derision vs. being considered “authentic.”
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I don’t know where i read it but J Gold said he didn’t like the word Authentic when describing food. He preferred the word tradiitional.
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“Traditional” can also be problematic. I see “traditional Basque cheesecake” all the time, even though chef Santiago Rivera invented it in 1990.
Authentic: Threat or menace?
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Which was 35 yrs ago. Depending on one’s age, that could be traditional (seriously).
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What a dope, banging post, Bruh, its lit and it really slaps!
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I don’t think “traditional” is ever appropriate for a dish invented by a living chef.
i think J Gold meant if more from a cuisine standpoint than an item of food. like Traditional Chinese food instead of Authentic Chinese food.
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If one digs through my work, you’ll see “authentic” a number of times. This is truly unfortunate, as I wrote it as it was meant at the time, though I used “traditional” as well. Oops. Language changes and I sincerely hope context is considered so that I am not cancelled years after my death with “can you believe what this guy wrote?” 
I always tried my best to avoid cliches/tropes and “difficult” words.
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I used to place a high value on “authenticity.” But as a thought experiment: Imagine if Dunsmoor opened up a branch in Tokyo, and the locals criticized it for not being authentic American, citing Cheesecake Factory and McDonalds. That would be a silly criticism for multiple reasons. Cuisines aren’t monolithic. Wealthier people eat different foods than poorer people. People have different tastes. And even if Cheesecake Factory and McDonalds are reflective of most Americans’ palates, that doesn’t make them good. What does authenticity matter?
Perhaps America is a little different than other countries due to its shorter history. But the history of today’s Asian cuisines isn’t nearly as long as the history of the cultures associated with those cuisines. Consider that the chili pepper didn’t reach Asia until the late 16th century.
This is all to say, and to agree: Authenticity isn’t all that useful a concept. But I do think it has some utility. Over the period of several decades–sometimes spanning a century or more–people have learned what works and what doesn’t for a particular cuisine, say Japanese, and the cuisine now reflects that. Deviation from this collected wisdom has a high risk of degrading rather than enhancing the cuisine. It takes talented chefs to push the boundaries forward in positive ways.
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Interesting post, agree with much of this, but the last paragraph is in tension with the previous.
According to whom? I’m sure things we find traditional, canonical, or authentic about various cuisines were once new and controversial.
Don’t think you can freeze what’s canon right now and say deviations degrade without also acknowledging that folks in the past almost certainly had these exact same feelings about innovations we now find standard or typical.
To your original point, authenticity is a matter of perspective and always contested.
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Thanks for your response. The post was intended to have some tension on that point. It’s a gray topic. Perhaps the evolution of opinions is like the evolution of cuisines. People say a lot of stupid things and a few smart ones; the smart ones become influential.
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