PERSIMMON.PLATE by Jocelyn Li

Musings on Food ..............
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is Culture
is Consumption
is Art
is Decorum
is Life
is Death

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07 WHOSE AUTHENTICITY?
09.23/09.23


Consolidating the world:
If food is a language, then, much like how prescriptivism in linguistics implies a “correct” way to learn and speak a language (e.g. grammar, syntax, spelling rules in English), pursuing authenticity prescribes a singular correct way to cook a dish. This outlook inherently invalidates and neglects the fact that food, like language, is a malleable, ever-evolving cultural entity: it changes as migratory patterns do, and adapts to resource availability and local interactions. Cultural purity becomes virtually nonexistent in the modern globalized world, so assuming that food too remains stagnant and belongs exclusively to one culture is presumptuous and divisive.