A few weeks ago I was exploring the worlds of salsa and curry/ curry paste. First of all, what a delightful journey through flavors. I highly recommend trying a salsa verde and a Thai yellow curry, if I had to pick two to make right this second. However, I cannot say enough how much I loved them all. You can do SO MUCH with a food processor and like 15 min of time. Tim seemed quite ecstatic about this phase of cooking :)
I also got a ton of comments - hooray! I love comments! One in particular was on a my mind for a bit. I struck the nerve of a question I have been thinking about for a while. The person asked me to be conscious of authenticity, and to know what is authentic and not. I replied and said I am doing my best, but there is so much content to get through - how do I know:
WHAT IS AUTHENTIC?
As someone who grew up bicultural, I have wondered what 'authentic' means for my identity my entire life. Am I an authentic German because I went to a German school? Because half my family is German? Because I spent time there? I was born in the states and am wayyyy out of the loop on vernacular. Throw a metaphor at me and there's an 80% chance I won't understand it. But many of my formative memories are in German or in Germany. My passport is American. My dad is Salvadoran. So what makes me German?
The same goes for food. Is something authentically German if it uses German ingredients? Are the ingredients only German if they are from Germany, or if they are made by German people? (But then again, how do you define 'German'?)
Now the real question is, how many more times can I say 'German' in the same blog post? Well let me get back to food. The reality is that I don't know how to navigate the world of food in an authentic way, and I think authenticity is a double-edged sword within the world of food. Don't get me wrong - I am 1,000,000% supportive of masters of the craft, so don't take the questioning as a way to undo any type of amazingness related to anyone you're thinking about. It is just that I have pondered long and hard about how to approach my journey through food with an open mind (and empty stomach). I know one truth, which is that every food cooked with heart feels authentic to me in that moment. However, getting to the final dish can be overwhelming.
I think a lot about people learning to cook, exploring the world of food without the hangovers from shoulda-woulda-coulda. It is easy to feel shamed when you try a recipe and then someone comes in and judges your work by saying it 'isn't authentic'. Again, I am not seeking to disrespect in any way, but learning and exploring don't follow a straight line. Learning is messy and fun, and at times, hard. It asks you to see things from different perspectives, to understand the culture surrounding the food, and to embrace similarities and differences. Most importantly, learning can help you see the flaws in your own approach and give you tools to grow, improve, accept, refine, and appreciate.
I come back to what that means tactically. When I search 'marinara' - I find many, many, many versions of it. There's what is regionally accepted, what is fusion, what is a new idea vs. an old approach, what is earth friendly, what is affordable etcetcetc... Another great example is Colombian salsa - weeks later I am still getting people commenting on whether or not to use sugar. Every person who comments feels equally passionate and right. There is so much to consider and so many ingredients to explore.
So I ask again with love and gratitude in my heart - what is authentic?
