Article
Authentic Possibilities: Uncommon Lessons from Slow Figs and Fast Fashion
Gastronomica: The Journal of Food Studies
(2023)
Abstract
This article argues for the value of authenticity as an analytic. “Authentic possibilities” plays on a double meaning. In one sense, possibilities may be “authentic” in terms of what is true, real, original, grounded, or not fake. In another sense, authenticity as a concept may offer possibilities for analysts to notice how value is created. This article draws on long-term as well as disrupted ethnographic research in the Made in Italy arena across two sectors—slow figs and fast fashion—to theorize authentic possibilities. Fieldwork disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic opened conceptual space to propose a nonbinary approach to authenticities. In breaking from the authentic–inauthentic binary and taking inspiration from artisanal producers of figs, the article offers authenticities as an analytic to illuminate uncommon lessons. Fig producers straddle discipline and improvisation, sustaining and generating novel and nuanced forms of authenticity. The taste of authenticity may be unpredictable and even at odds with tradition. The article draws inspiration from theorists who signal authenticity’s dynamic qualities. It is structured around four heterogenous instruments: place, fieldwork, discipline, and vulnerability. Takeaways propose possibilities and limits of authenticity for critical food studies.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring February, 2023
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2023.23.1.13
Citation Information
Elizabeth L. Krause. "Authentic Possibilities: Uncommon Lessons from Slow Figs and Fast Fashion" Gastronomica: The Journal of Food Studies (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/elizabeth_krause/64/