Authenticity
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Buettner suggests that multiculturalism as a consumer practice “constitutes only a limited form of tolerance” and can be banked upon as a “substitute for a deeper accommodation of cultural and ethnic diversity” (146). He implies that culinary participation of the white community is an ersatz accommodation of other cultures. It may be seen as superficial and cosmetic only. I disagree. I believe, first of all, that it is better than an outright refusal of other cultures. Additionally, I see it as a practice of cultural rapprochement. Both communities seem to have taken a step towards each other.
Bringing the spice palate down to a more tolerable level also constitutes a reasonable accommodation from the South Asian community. While, patronizing these institutions seems like a step forward from the white community.
But, if we look at the concept of “culinary citizenship”, it also provides credence to the idea that the hybridized structure in which ‘ethnic’ food exists in a white society is not necessarily inferior (Mannur 29). If new migrants create “distorted fictions” of the homeland, it is very much acceptable that the food here may seem quite inferior anyways (Mannur 29). Now I am not saying that the food is the same. Because, it certainly is not. What I am trying to argue is that migration changes the relation one has to the homeland. During this change, if the food that comes to be produced ought to be allowed to change too.
And, as far as building bridges with the host goes, it is even more acceptable to offer a culinary experience that is more palatable because the host community doesn’t have that melancholy and that history with said food. And if the host community doesn’t have that symbolic (or affective) relationship with the food, it creates room for hybridization. As such, I believe that it is too much of a push to claim that lack of “authenticity” of the food is a form of assimilative appropriation. On the contrary, it is the birth of a new type of food that is authentic in its own right. It represents a space of rapprochement between two communities.