Greek Food, Expectations, and Authenticity

Libby Dulski
10/29/16
Part III of Restaurant Review

Having never really eaten an entire Greek-inspired meal before this project, I was skeptical that I would not enjoy the Mediterranean meal. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Before the meal, I was afraid that Greek food would be too foreign and strange to my Americanized palate. Nevertheless, I found that the mild flavors I received from the lemon soup and the overly-sweet desserts fit right in with my predisposed taste buds. I discovered that the Greek food I tasted was a mix of other types of food. The éclair I ate was a dessert inspired by the French pastry. The French fries I ate with my entrée reminded me of the traditional all-American meals anyone can get at MacDonald’s or Burger King. Overall, I was hoping to experience food I had never tasted before; however, I felt that the meal was nothing out of the ordinary, although it was delicious.

I found that jotting down notes, taking pictures, and asking questions felt normal as I ate at Plateia Mediterranean Kitchen. Before the meal, I thought that I would feel awkward and out of place as I did all of these things, but I felt surprisingly comfortable judging and reviewing the restaurant. I also thought that I would be overwhelmed by the menu as so many dishes would be foreign to me. However, it was easy to read the choices and then the descriptions and decide whether or not I would enjoy the food based off of my preferences; the waitress was also helpful in assisting me chose a meal.

As I wrote my food review about Plateia Mediterranean Kitchen, I often thought back to Long’s piece “Culinary Tourism.” I had to rethink everything I had thought to be authentic. For example, the music that was playing throughout Plateia when I was eating my meal was current teen pop music, definitely not Greek music. But perhaps it is not necessary for Plateia to try and be overly authentic because it is not about the atmosphere that makes for authenticity, it is the food. Plateia’s website says that it wants to give people “the taste of Greece while enjoying a comfortable, social, and polished dining experience.” I definitely think that the restaurant achieved this. And I think the lack of Greek music shows that the restaurant is more preoccupied with the food than with authenticating the experience.

In the future, I will be more aware of authenticity. I will be careful to not use authenticity to define a restaurant because what really makes a restaurant authentic? There are so many different ways to categorize authenticity that is difficult to call something authentic. I plan on studying abroad next year in (hopefully) Quito, Ecuador. While there, I need to keep an open mind to cuisines I experience. I hope that someone on study abroad will bring up the topic of authentic while eating cuy (guinea pig) which is a traditional (and well known) Ecuadorian dish. I hope that someone brings up the fact that cuy is “authentic” Ecuadorian food so I can start a conversation about what they think authentic means. Maybe I can bring up the topic of authenticity over Thanksgiving while my father carves a turkey and some drunk uncle claims that this is a “truly authentic all-American meal.” I can picture the slurred argument ending with the unfortunate turkey being thrown at my head.

Overall, I would say that this assignment has been eye-opening in many ways. I have experienced a type of food I had never really eaten before, I questioned what it really means to be authentic, and I got to write my first food review.