One of our rules is that you never find authentic Mexican food in any restaurant promising “Authentic Mexican Food”— the real authentic places don’t need to tip their hand that way, they just advertise the actual authentic dishes. But does authenticity even matter? Can’t things be authentically lousy, and isn’t part of being in a melting pot like America that you begin to create fusion cuisine the moment you go the grocery store? These are the questions David Hammond wrestles with in the Sun-Times, as he points out, among other conundrums, the fact that the mark of authenticity in a Caesar salad, anchovies… isn’t actually authentic to Caesar Cardini’s original recipe, but was somebody else’s now-essential bastardization of the dish. [Sun-Times]
