On the one hand, I feel like it's kind of racist to assume that someone of a race will automatically know what good food from their native country tastes like (for example, children of immigrants who have never been to their ancestral country of origin).
On the other, I feel like it's at least an interesting start to try and find what is "authentic". How do you extract that for other marketplaces like Airbnb or Etsy? How do you define an "authentic" traveler? Or artisan? It's a very interesting problem and a neat heuristic to explore.
Yes and no. The average white/black American has their own idea of what constitutes "good" ethnic food. I've seen Indian restaurants open serving very hot spiced dishes, and within a year or two it'll be toned down because the non-Indians can't handle it.
Children of immigrants hear their parents' opinions of authentic flavor. My mom (immigrant) gives me (American born) these kinds of hints and I can find restaurants and foods she'll like. When reading reviews I do tend to note whether the reviewer is of the same ethnicity or look for statements like "I'm X ethnicity".
But "authenticity" has no correlation with quality. An ethnic restaurant packed with people of that ethnicity also has no correlation with quality. People conflate authentic with good, but you can also be authentically bad.
I've been to plenty of "authentic" American Thanksgiving meals prepared by mediocre American home cooks. I've been to plenty of "authentic" small town American diners with horrible food.
Likewise, I've traveled around the world and have eaten plenty of poorly prepared local food that are off the typical tourist track. Thai food didn't taste better in Thailand. French food wasn't better in France. Coffee in Italy was crap. Sure, there were also amazing stand-outs, but I'm talking about your average business. It's impossible for all of them to be amazing. Just like back home in the US, your average restaurant will be cheap and mediocre. This is what your average person eats. Not everyone is a foodie. These are all authentically prepared meals by authentic locals—born and raised. Likewise, your average home prepared meal also won't be amazing because your average home cook isn't a star chef. Yes, a villager who doesn't have easy access to prepared foods may have a larger repertoire of cooking knowledge, but it doesn't necessarily translate to making delicious meals.
> People conflate authentic with good, but you can also be authentically bad.
I do agree that conflation is inappropriate. In fact, I was just in a Pakistani restaurant the other night and had one of the most dull biryanis I've ever had. Yet the customers were primarily desi. And on a tour of China I was fed nearly the worst Chinese food I've ever had.
But authentic is still authentic if you take the best food you've ever had "over there" and bring it over here.
The Yelp data looks a bit coarse-grained to work with. I think the ethnic background of the reviewers only matters if you A: share that immediate background and B: are looking for eating with the flavor of nostalgia.
I don't like that it assumes any food with an ethnic background is only valuable if it is unchanged from history as possible.
On the one hand, I feel like it's kind of racist to assume that someone of a race will automatically know what good food from their native country tastes like (for example, children of immigrants who have never been to their ancestral country of origin).
On the other, I feel like it's at least an interesting start to try and find what is "authentic". How do you extract that for other marketplaces like Airbnb or Etsy? How do you define an "authentic" traveler? Or artisan? It's a very interesting problem and a neat heuristic to explore.