Max: Post-Tourist

"Authentic" Thai decor

    I thought that all the different aspects of the two chapters we read were very applicable to our lives as eaters of food. What really struck me was the depth that "authenticity" works in our daily lives. It's not just that something different from our norms seems strange to us or is an experience in learning something about another culture or food, it's also some reflection on us or on the way we define ourselves. This give and take seems really relevant to me, especially with study abroad coming up. How will I work to understand the culture of wherever I end up? Will I be naive and see everything as foreign and exotic? I hope not. I think that I'm relatively conscious of the way I perceive other people and cultures around me.

    The different kinds of "tourist" aspect of the chapter also intrigued me. I had never really thought about what purpose an experience in a foreign country or culture could serve. I've always had a sense that a tourist in the stereotypical sense is something I wouldn't want to be. I've grown up with a sense that gawking at things different from you is wrong or bad in some way. As far as I can remember, I never really thought about a cuisine being authentic or not. I was always more interested in how the food tasted. This background has made it difficult to place myself on the tourist spectrum. Am I an existential tourist? No, I don't really have a super strict definition of what is or isn't authentic. Am I more of a diversionary tourist then? I don't think so. I guess I associate that end of the spectrum with gawking Americans snapping pictures of everything in sight with blatant disregard for respect and tact.

    At the risk of sounding super pretentious, perhaps I'm more of a "post-tourist." Molz writes that the post-tourist is "aware of the social and commercial constraints to authenticity and decides to overlook them."  I think that this definition fits my own perception of "ethnic" and "authentic" dining in America. I can see the shifting nature of pursuing the concept of authenticity in American dining but I still really enjoy eating lots of different kinds of food. I'd agree with McClancy that "inauthenticity is a small price to pay for culinary variety and the spice it adds to everyday life." I don't go to a Thai restaurant to experience an experience of Thailand, I go to eat something that I enjoy the taste of. The authenticity or exoticism of the experience doesn't interest me in the sense that I'm consuming the "Other" as an exoticised construct, but because I love the food that's served at my neighborhood "Thai" restaurant.