Molz

Food and tourism have long been linked in the popular mindset. The former rarely excludes a travel section, while the letter is never without its food reviews. One site of culinary tourism in which the concepts of authenticity and identity making are particularly evident is the ethnic restaurant. Ethnic restaurants are one of an increasing number of arenas in which people can engage in touristy practice within their own culture and as part of their everyday life.

This chapter has attempted to outline some of the ways in witch the concept of authenticity can be used in exploring the social dynamics that occur in instances of culinary authenticity. Authenticity, considered in the context of the touristy interaction, is one means of understanding the processes of identity construction and make sure that take place in arenas of culinary tourism. As a tool for classifying tourist motivation and interaction with the other, authenticity reveals and validate while eating out.

This study focuses on the Thai restaurant, but the concept of authenticity can be applied to other locales of culinary tourism, such as cookbooks, food festivals, or cooking classes. Folklorists and ethnographers must be careful, though, to understand that the concept of authenticity is an invention of Western modernity. As such, the concept is limited in what it can reveal about touristy interactions. Other theoretical approaches must be used in conjunction with authenticity to illustrate and examine the social dynamics that occur at all sites of culinary tourism.