Marketing the Authentic Taco
Fabricating Authenticity - Jason W.M. Ellsworth
Jason W.M. Ellsworth [+]
Dalhousie University
Jason W. M. Ellsworth is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department at Dalhousie University. He currently works at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island and serves on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Anthropology Society. His research explores a diverse array of topics including the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, Buddhism in North America, Food and Food Movements, Theories of Value, Political Economy, Marketing, Transnationalism, and Orientalism.
Description
In this chapter, Ellsworth discusses the wide array of food labels that pervade our food system today. Focusing on discourses of authenticity, he uses a case study of Mexican restaurants in a small province in Canada to show how authenticity is used in a competitive manner to legitimate businesses and cultural narratives. However, he also argues that there is a fetish for real and genuine experiences that drives demand for the authentic.