Travel Tip 40
How to find authentic culture when you travel.
First, how do you define authenticity?
I define this as broadly as possible. I think that anything people do to express their culture, because they want to, is authentic.
So, what is culture? For example, let’s say food, clothes, music, songs, poetry, literature, art of all kinds, games, sports, etc. A complete list would be too long for this blog.
Authentic culture is everywhere.
Food can be complicated, but you try telling a Chicagoan that their pizza isn’t authentic if they’re not from Italy. I think that French food is French if it’s a recipe that’s common in a lot of (intentionally vague number) French home cooking. That includes couscous. Italian cuisine with tomatoes and pasta is authentic, even though the tomato is from the Americas and noodle are from Asia.
Authentic cuisine
Several countries claim ceviche and my position is that Peruvian ceviche is authentically Peruvian and Mexican ceviche is authentically Mexican.
Authentic clothes
The mayor of Sangarará and his assistants may wear jeans and t-shirts to work but that doesn’t mean their ceremonial outfits are any less authentic.
Authentic music
Drums, flutes and rattles made of llama hoofs are so Andean that I can’t imagine anybody would doubt their authenticity.
Authentic art
The neon colors on her hat may be modern, but I don’t think they make her clothes or art any less authentic.
Authentic cultural celebrations
Inti Raymi gets a lot of pushback for being a musical theater production written in the 1940s. It was written by Peruvians inspired by their history. I call that authentic Peruvian culture.
Where to draw the line?
I think that it’s when people do something purely for money, or because they’re told to that I start to doubt the authenticity. Last December in the Amazon, I saw two bartenders put on Amazonian headdresses and dance around to a 90s American pop song before teaching a group of tourists how to make pisco sours.
Yes, pisco sours are Peru’s national drink, (authentic) but the combination of American music and Amazonian decorations struck me as odd. I might not have questioned it so much if I hadn’t seen one of the bartenders cross himself like a Catholic and glance skywards with an apologetic look on his face as he put on the Amazonian headdress. That made the performance seem even less authentic than it already did.
What do you think? How do you define authentic culture? Leave me a comment!
Blog
This was one of the most heartwarming Inca ceremonies I’ve ever been to. It was clearly entertainment for the villagers of Sangarará, who welcomed me with open arms.
Article
Who are the alpaca ladies of Cusco, Peru?
The debate on these women’s authenticity gets heated but I think that they’re wearing clothes that express their culture and working with animals that their families have tended for thousands of years. Seems authentic to me. This article is a rerun because I’ve been working so much on books lately that I haven’t had much that’s been published online.
