March 2, 2010
As world cuisines continually evolve how do we determine what constitutes an authentic cuisine? Authentic to what? Is tradition equivalent to authenticity? Is it fair to limit what is considered genuine cuisine to what has been traditionally prepared for consumption? I would like to posit that the authenticity of any cuisine is inherent in two factors: preservation of the quality of the food products, and the identity of the food products.
Just because a chef may be using more sophisticated cooking equipment, technique (e.g., mastering the control of temperature), and final presentation, it does not mean that the food loses its authenticity. Native foods will preserve their integrity if the chef respects the quality of the product that he is working with. This would translate to starting off with the freshest, highest quality indigenous product and preparing it in such a way that is in agreement with preserving its supreme quality in the finished dish.
Cuisine gets its identity from the land and sweat of people who bore it. If a chef utilizes the same highest quality native heirloom plants and heritage breed animals that his grandmother used in her dishes, and if that chef preserves the quality of these products during cooking, then the authenticity is maintained. The authenticity is preserved in the flavor. Even if the dish looks very different from anything his grandmother used to make, when the chef eats it, his mind becomes inundated with the memories of tastes and smells of some dish assiduously prepared by his grandmother.