Abstract
Within our modern cultural landscape, the value of cuisine is directly associated with its authenticity. The qualities which define authentic culinary experience in relationship to less genuine meals however, are entirely arbitrary; there is no single empirical basis for the designation of ‘authentic’ dining. My focus in this paper is to understand the paradox between the definite valence of authenticity and its artificial characterization. It is not the material composition of the cooking but the fabricated conditions of the fictional—decor and service—that conduce to the experience of ‘true’ authenticity. This paper specifically analyzes the commensal relationships which occur in Chinese-American restaurants where this binary opposition is activated. By commensal relationships I understand the social interaction which occurs between diners during the consumption of food, whereby cultural values are established and communicated. Over the course of two years I repeatedly visited three restaurants within the Greater Boston area, interviewing and observing both staff and clientele. I conclude by demonstrating how physiology is the drive which activates a ritual consumption of food, that is, authentic commensality, and how there are three elements at play in this model. Firstly, there is human metabolism, the need to eat; secondly, there is the act of commensality or human sociability; and thirdly, there is the experience of devised nostalgia which accompanies communal dining. Cuisine is not merely a reflection of diet but is a frame for the production of social landscapes and a process which makes the fictional become real.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Cuisines, Culinary Arts
