In class this past Friday, we began our discussion about food’s authenticity. We had some back and forth about Gladys (the Caribbean restaurant in Brooklyn) having the voice of 2 white males in representation while being born out of the history of West Indian culture/identity. How can we use Mintz’s piece to try and understand a restaurant like Gladys being (1) an act of travel/identity (how food changes when it moves), and (2) cultural appropriation = understanding the afro/indo history of West Indian identity through its food production?
While in this frame of mind… how can we identify “authentic” food?
-Dr.B.
February 16, 2017 at 1:31 pm
What makes food authentic?” This is the underlying question that we explored in class. There are many factors that must be considered when determining the authenticity of a certain meal or dish. Where does the dish originate from? Where is it being served now? Who is serving it? Does it taste the way it’s supposed to be? The questions can go on and on. In an attempt to answer our question, we introduced Glady’s, the well known Caribbean restaurant based in Brooklyn, and discussed the steps that Michael Jacober, the owner, took to establish the restaurant and how he continues to manage it.
On a very simple level, Glady’s is obviously one case of many in which food has traveled from one location to another. The food originates in Jamaica an made its way to America for profitable intentions. Although this is not a case in which food has traveled as a result of searching for better work, but rather traveled for the sake of the work itself, the bottom line is still the same: food travels with people. In Mintz’s article, he addresses this idea in reference to the 50 million migrants of the 19th century coming from the European colonies, such as parts of Africa or India, “Large numbers of those original migrants did carry a few of their food habits with them; they brought plants and spices, when they could. In their new homes they added new foods to their own food systems, meanwhile introducing strangers to their ways of cooking and eating” (Mintz, 520). Although the food has traveled from Jamaica to Brooklyn, I personally believe that Michael Jacober did an excellent job keeping the food authentic and has barely changed it, if at all, from its origination. He described in his interview how genuine he was when trying to put the restaurant together and how he wanted to make it a true Caribbean restaurant. However, Mintz would still disagree with me because he holds that it’s more than just the food itself. He states that it’s also about the people themselves, the ones involved with the food, “ I believe that differences in the conception of citizenship, membership, and group identity enter importantly into the retention, loss, or modification of food habits” (Mintz, 520). Certainly a white Jewish man’s membership and identity in society is different than those of the Jamaican people’s.
I would say that it is evident through Michael Jacober’s food production that he understands the afro/indo history of West Indian identity. He said that he explored 80% of Jamaica with his chef when he went to visit. He claims that as he went around the country, he took notes and videos of all the important information necessary for him to know how to produce the Caribbean food properly. He compared himself to a “sponge”, trying to absorb every single piece of crucial information while he was there. One example that demonstrates his understanding in producing Caribbean food is the fact that he had a wood-fire grill installed in his restaurant, containing actual wood brought back from Jamaica. He learned that smoke is the key to making true jerk, so he had this installment to enhance the authenticity of his food production. I’m sure that this is just one of the many fundamentals necessary in making Caribbean food that he picked up on. In Mintz’s article he makes a point regarding “indigenizing” food- groups who come across a new food and put their own “twist” on it (Mintz, 517). Americans innovating sushi is one good example. Since Michael Jacober had such a solid understanding of the afro/indo history of West Indian identity, he was able to stay far away from this “indigenization” that Mintz discusses. This further supports my opinion that Glady’s is an authentic restaurant. Owner Michael Jacober did his best in making sure that the restaurant stays true and authentic to the Caribbean people in his neighborhood, which is why his business continues to be successful.
February 16, 2017 at 8:17 pm
In his piece “Food and Diaspora,” Sidney Mintz mentions that “When food objects, processes–even ideas–spread from one society to another, the receiving society is likely to modify, often to misunderstand, and usually to redefine what it has received. When using a new vegetable, fruit, or spice the borrowing society is also likely to ‘indigenize’ it.” In other words, there is cultural appropriation: the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture.
While Glady’s, a Caribbean eatery located in Brooklyn and founded by two Caucasian men, may seem to be inauthentic and a culturally appropriated replica of soul food, I believe that the restaurant does indeed serve authentic food. Allow me to explain: Yes, this restaurant, which cooks and serves Jamaican food, was founded by white people in the United States. This in and of itself may seem like grounds for inauthenticity. However, the owners traveled to and around Jamaica, meeting different people making different recipes. They ran into a man making and selling jerk chicken in a shack on the beach, and they spent a week with him to learn the recipe. In an attempt to, in their words, “replicate the authenticity of the food,” they even imported wood to the U.S. so that they could have a beautiful wood-fired grill with which to make the food.
Although Glady’s is owned and operated by white men in a non-Caribbean nation, the founders did the best they possibly could to create authentic Jamaican food without modifying or taking all the credit while doing so. In an interview, one of them admitted that he went around the country learning about its culture and food; he did not take the credit for the recipe(s). Furthermore, the owners had good intentions behind all of this: as Crown Heights, Brooklyn is a Caribbean neighborhood, they wanted to open a community-oriented place where people who wanted to enjoy soul food, but were unable to travel all the way to the Caribbean, could do so right in their own neighborhood. Could they have given more credit to the man in the shack on the beach? Yes, I think so. Could they have been more authentic in their food production, such as by bringing someone from the Caribbean to their restaurant’s kitchen? Again, yes. But given their objectives and resources, the owners made the most out of their situation, and for that, I would say their restaurant serves authentic food.
Ultimately, I would define “authentic” food as that being created by someone who has had enough exposure to the inner workings of the original culture.