Much is made of authenticity in food. We speak of "authentic" ethnic food as if we have some idea of what we're talking about--as if we could tell the difference between the real thing and an impostor if both were presented to us simultaneously. Has a blind taste test been conducted on authenticity? If so, I would like to know the results.

To my mind, it only makes sense that there is a great deal of flux in what we call authentic. Is there a definitive cassoulet recipe? Paella? It would stand to reason that the peasants who invented these foods and their analogs would have used what they had on hand. Further, what they had on hand must have changed month to month, season to season.

I suppose what I dislike about the term...