Ever seen a restaurant website, food blogs, or read the banners of local eateries? If you have, then you’ll find the word authentic repeated almost in everything restaurant and food-related. But isn't this word overrated? If every restaurant and eatery offers authentic food, then where lies the difference? In this blog, let’s go through the authenticity dilemma of food shown in the best Indian restaurant in Westfield.
Stereotypes & Expectations: What Is 'Authentic' Indian Food?
Almost every restaurant in Westfield is offering authentic food, but is the food you eat really authentic?
“Authenticity” in food is a term that's been used, overused, and often misunderstood. Especially when it comes to Indian cuisine, which spans 28 states, hundreds of communities, and an encyclopedic range of ingredients and cooking methods.
From Mumbai to the Mall: The Geography of Flavor
The geography of India influences how Indian food is made. The dishes you find in a Tamil Nadu house are unlike the ones in a Punjabi restaurant. The Western world usually misrepresents Indian food as just a handful of bland dishes such as butter chicken, samosas, naan, and biryani.
A lot of Indian restaurants in Westfield focus on this limited range to match the tastes of their regular customers. It’s perfectly normal—businesses continue by offering products people want to purchase. But this creates an interesting problem in cooking. Often, restaurants call their food “authentic” and then adjust the spiciness, add alternatives to rare ingredients, and tone down the heat.
Decoding the Menu: Familiarity vs. Fidelity
Menus in an Indian restaurant in Westfield blend cultural fidelity and customer expectations. Restaurants will claim their dishes and recipes are authentic, yet they will personalize the dish to meet the guest’s taste preferences. So, rather than authentic food, what they are providing is food inspired by Indian cuisine.
Curry Without Borders: When Fusion Works
Above, we read how food that blends between cultural fidelity and customer taste is not authentic. However, these deviations or blends are not just a compromise. Some of them are innovative reinterpretations that honor the spirit of Indian cooking while embracing global influences.
These dishes blur the lines of authenticity, but they also reflect the dynamic nature of food itself. After all, Indian cuisine has evolved through centuries of trade, colonization, and migration. Tomatoes and chilies weren’t native to India either, but they’re now indispensable.
The Role of Ambience and Aesthetics
What makes the authentic dining experience in an Indian restaurant in Westfield is not just the food, instead, it’s also the way the food is served. For example, these restaurants will feature hand-painted walls, copper thalis, and vintage Bollywood posters. It creates an immersive experience; however, there is a clear line between cultural celebration and themed exotica. If every design choice is curated to meet Western expectations of what "Indian" should look like, the experience can feel more like a performance than a genuine cultural offering.
So, Should We Care About Authenticity?
Yes, authenticity is indeed necessary when it comes to food, but not in a rigid sense. Food is an evolving expression of culture, memory, migration, and market demands. Rather than holding Indian restaurants in Westfield to an impossible standard of pan-Indian authenticity, we might do better to ask: Is this food respectful of its roots? Does it tell a story? Is it delicious?
So, next time, think something differently, look beyond the menu, and ask for something unfamiliar, not what you perceive as Indian cuisine.