Claudio Azevedo of Escola da Samba Vai Vai with the drum line, São Paulo, Brasil
There is a reluctance out there to discuss authentic cuisine--mostly out of self-interest. Many thriving restaurateurs that want to capitalize on the rise of Latin-American and Asian cuisines want to throw a wrench into the engine of debate to insulate themselves from this discussion. Lazy journalists, too--I'm talking the whole lot: bloggers, writers, or whatever they prefer to call themselves. Titles don't matter, it's what you know. I learned this as a young musician coming to L.A.--it doesn't matter who you've played with when the band leader kicks off Cherokee, or All The Things You Are, or even Pick up the Pieces. You stand on your abilities in the world of music, and you will be judged, by critics, by the audience, and mostly by other musicians--it's an extreme form of social criticism. It's this type of criticism that keeps even the best tenor men from recording Coletrane's, A Love Supreme--you just don't do that.
Even big name writers out there play the "oh what's authentic anyway", again just to cover up their own inexperience. I do support what Eddie Huang is saying--even if it's from the perspective of 30-somethings that grew up on Jackass, base hip-hop culture, and hyper-exposure to porn--that only people from within the culture should be the voices of that cuisine, or tradition--or they should have at least been out in the field. Eddie is an authentic voice. Andrew Zimmern is about the most credible individual I know, who has put a tremendous amount of time on the ground, and truly wants to get to the essence of a people. His knowledge and experience are unrivaled--right behind him is Anthony Bourdain. I would listen to either of these guys talk about Latin America. There is such thing as authentic cuisine, as there is authentic jazz--Kenny G is not jazz--or authentic samba.
