While at UCSD, I was walking around looking for something to eat for lunch. As I
walked into the Price Center I saw Panda Express, Burger King and Grilled Greek. I
have not had a Gyro in awhile so I thought to myself, “Why not, Greek food would be
something good and different.” When I ordered the Gyro plate I chose seasoned
French fries and rice for my side orders. It also came with Greek bread which was
cut up into four triangles and Greek meat. I could not tell whether the Greek meat
was either pork or beef, but it was delicious because each bite of it consisted of
a peppery meaty taste. It is the best way I can describe it.
Also, when I was ordering I thought it was interesting that Hispanic people
were cooking and severing me Greek food. I have never met a Greek person in my life
so maybe the people working behind the counter were Greek, but one thing is for sure
though is that they spoke Spanish pretty fluently. It just makes me wonder if I was
eating authentic Greek food because all the Greek food I have tried so far were from
either the dining hall at Cal State Long Beach or from little restaurant in shopping
malls severed by people who identify themselves as Greek during work hours.
When a different ethnicity serve another ethnicity type of food one thing
pops into people minds, “I am not eating authentic food.” Since people are thinking
they are not eating authentic food the business of the restaurant will go down the
drain. People want to eat different authentic food from other cultures because they
want to experience what other people eat in their daily lives. Only when ethnicity
serves different types of food within their own culture is when people will think it
is authentic food.
For example, having a Hispanic person serving orange chicken from Panda Express will
make people question the authenticity of the food. But having an Asian person is a
different story. It would not matter if that Asian person is Japanese, Chinese,
Vietnamese, and maybe even an Indian could pass severing orange chicken from Panda
Express and people will think it genuine Asian food. As long as it appears correct
people will buy into it.
All and all, my experience at Grilled Greek has been fantastic because I
have always loved biting into that peppery meat. Even though, I do not have anything
else to compare it to. The service of the place was great and I had no problems with
the workers. Just one thing to keep in mind when ordering food is that food of a
certain culture served by a different ethnic maybe not be authentic.
