Written By: Aina Khan (instead of blog post, Aina provided her final paper)
Abstract
Business anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that explores the behavior in and around any organization, or the behavior of the consumers of products and services provided by an organization (Jordan, 2015). This paper intends to specifically focus on minority-owned small businesses in Philadelphia. How “different” is ethnic minority business activity from the wider small business population? After an interview with Hasan Bukhari, the owner of Mood Café, an Indian street food café in West Philadelphia, I found that in addition to Hasan’s palpable passion for his business, his adamance on maintaining authenticity of his food as well as his earnest desire and commitment to share it with his community have been the driving forces behind the success of his café. Expanding these findings to a broader anthropological context, this paper explores what “authenticity” really means in relation to food culture. It proposes that immigrant entrepreneurs are often uniquely faced with the additional obstacle of feeling as though they must decide to what extent they would like to maintain authentic in their product offering versus breaking out or watering down to “relate” to their clientele. This decision is influenced by factors such as the population of the customer base (what proportion are and aren’t co-ethnic, how neophobic they are, etc.), as well as the owner’s intended mission. Do they prioritize commercializing and easy economic growth, or are they driven by more altruistic desires, such as finding a creative outlet or sharing their culture with others? This paper also uses the findings from my interview and the research just mentioned to explore the impacts of such exoticism on the perpetuating of “othering” racial and ethnic minorities and the possible detrimental impacts this can have on said minorities.
My Background and Motivations
Given the growing demand for ethnic restaurants for ethnic food markets in the US (Strom, 2013), I was particularly interested in interviewing the owner of an independent ethnic restaurant. Given my South Asian background, when my roommate Rebecca (who is not South Asian) told me about an “amazing” Indian street food café near our apartment, I was initially skeptical. However, I became curious after she told me about her positive interactions with the kind owner who let her sample different lassi (yogurt drink) flavors and the process he uses handmake rose paste from real rose petals. He gave her some paste to take home, as well as two pounds of cheese he thought she may like to try. Upon hearing the story, I asked Rebecca to take me one day, and to say that I was instantly impressed would be an understatement. Hasan immediately recognized Rebeecca and welcomed me the same way he had welcomed her the first time she went. As someone who qualifies as a member of Hasan’s co-ethnic group, it made sense that I felt a sense of belonging in the café, but I found it especially interesting that Rebecca could feel the same comfort and loyalty to his restaurant as me. It started to make sense though, as Hasan is uniquely personable, and he consistently went out of his way to engage with her, teach her about his cuisine, ask how she liked the samples he gave her, how school is going for her, etc.
While I was impressed with the comfort I felt in the café, I was still skeptical of the quality of the food. How good could an Indian place in the middle of West Philadelphia really be, I thought. To my surprise, his lassi and chaat (chip and chutney snack) instantly brought me back to my childhood of having the same foods in Hicksville, Long Island and Jackson Heights, New York, two mostly South Asian neighborhoods near my home. This experience made me realize that I unconsciously associate “authentic” Indian food with being in a predominantly Indian area. Why is that? Well, I realized that my anecdotal definition for authentic food is if the people within the cuisine’s co-ethnic group enjoy it, then it must be good. But in the case of Mood Café, what does one do if their customer base is primarily of diverse backgrounds and otherwise unfamiliar with their product offering?
Interviewing Hasan Bukhari
It was this curiosity that led me to want to interview Hasan. Our interview happened about a week or two after my first visit to the store, and I was lucky to be able to conduct it in-person, while safely abiding to COVID-19 restrictions. Through our discussion, I was able to learn about Hasan’s background and how he operates the café. Hasan is a Pakistani-American immigrant from Lahore. He has always worked in hospitality and the food industry, working at the Hilton Hotel in Lahore. After a visit to the US about 30 years ago, Hasan cites his positive impression of the professional opportunities he had always heard about as his reasons to move here full-time. Initially having no US experience, he worked at a Dunkin Donuts until he found a job as a waiter and bartender at an Indian restaurant. He worked tirelessly to become manager at that restaurant, but knew that he ultimately wanted to own his own Indian restaurant. When asked why he wanted to start his own business, Hasan talked a lot about the autonomy and creativity that comes with owning your own business. He resonates deeply with the idea that he only has one life to live and wants to be free to do what he truly wants.
He was able open his own Indian restaurant in Brooklyn, which was extremely profitable until after 9/11, when sales started to dip. He ultimately decided to explore opportunities in other cities, and sold his Brooklyn restaurant to purchase one in King of Prussia, PA at the recommendation of one of his past chefs. He now owns six restaurants, three of them being on Baltimore Avenue in West Phildelphia, and one of those being Mood Café. I was familiar with the decent South Asian population in New York, which explained his decision to open a restaurant in Brooklyn, but I was curious as to why Hasan chose Philadelphia, especially in an area with little-to-no South Asian presence. Hasan’s response to this question was eye-opening: he reassured me that his focused intention is not to make authentic Indian food for only South Asian customers. Hasan wants to share his cooking with people of all backgrounds. He distinguishes his food from other Indian restaurants by arguing that his approach is “homestyle” rather than “commercialized” cooking. He gave the example of Indian restaurants boasting several varieties of biryani (flavored rice), which American customers don’t realize is simply made from one identical base, and is just combined with different mix-ins. He vows that while his Mood Café menu is short—just lassi and chaat— every one of his twenty flavors of each menu item is original and made-to-order with different handmade base ingredients. For example, as mentioned earlier, his rose cardamom lassi is made from homemade rose petals from Hasan’s garden, and hand-ground cardamom. When asked if he ever considered taking the easy route and “commercializing” his food to make his process more cost and time efficient, he responded by saying that doing so would take away what he finds most rewarding about his job. Hasan views Mood Café as his experimentation lab; he intentionally spends all day at the café and is its only
staff member, whereas he has a full staff at his other restaurants. He is certain that his customers can differentiate between his authentic intentions and food from other inauthentic options. Hasan is also certain that this is the reason his business has been able to survive and grow for so many years, and I believe him. He has a true passion for what he does, and truly wants to spread his culture through food.
There is one caveat, though. Hasan has, in recent years, decided to grow his menu to include alternative, less traditional variations of lassi and chaat. For example, he sells peanut butter and banana lassi or Mexican-inspired chaat with meat (chaat is usually vegetarian). When asked why he chose to do this, if he cares so much about the authenticity of his food and brand, he gave me an interesting answer that essentially prompted my subsequent research on authenticity in minority-owned businesses. Hasan’s reasoning for adding these menu items was that at their core, they use authentic base ingredients and methods. He in fact made an explicit distinction between “authentic” and “original”, and argued that these flavors aree both authentic and original. Yet, including these flavors allows Hasan to be able to respond to his customers’ demands, given that some enjoy meat on chaat although it is usually not included, and that some like the classic American combination of peanut butter and banana. He argues that even customers that order these unique flavors walk out of his café with a better understanding of his background and Indian culture and food, because he is always talking with his customers and sharing the background behind his menu items. Hasan also mentioned that selfishly, he enjoys experimenting with new flavor combinations, so including these items is also simply fun for him.
What is “Authentic” and How Can We Share That With Others?
For the purpose of this paper, it is important to first define what exactly is meant by the term “authentic”; in other words, what makes food authentic? To find my answer, I leaned on existing anthropological literature to see how it defines authenticity as it relates to food culture. The consensus seems to be that there are two important components to keep in mind: one definition suggests “possessing inherent authority,” (as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary) which in this case refers to the cook. The other applies to a cooking method that is “real, actual, genuine as opposed to imagined,” (as defined in the Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary) which in this case suggests that deviations from a previously set cultural pattern cause suspicion (Abarca 2010).
Another interesting, and perhaps more in-depth definition of authenticity breaks it down into five elements: 1) geographic specificity, or food connected to a narrowly defined location or geographic place; 2) simplicity, or a sense of ‘honesty’, ‘purity’, or ‘rusticity’ in food, often constructed through hand preparation, and contrasted with the manufactured nature of the modern industrial food system; 3) personal connection, or a food’s association with an identifiable producer, chef or family that ‘puts a face’ to food; 4) history and tradition, or connection to an established history or set of standards, conventions or food traditions through time or space; and 5) ethnicity, or food that is perceived to be cooked and eaten by members of an identifiable ethno-cultural group (Oleschuk, 2016).
With these definitions in mind, I began to think about the decisions that minority entrepreneurs must make when producing and selling ethnic goods to an unfamiliar audience. This is important because food-related consumer behaviors are transformed and influenced by various internal (e.g. neophobia) and external (information and social) factors. Food neophobia refers the omnivorous nature of humans, explaining their fear or reluctance to eat novel or unfamiliar foods (Rozin and Vollmecke, 1986). Historically, humans have viewed consuming novel foods as potentially harmful, as they associate some sort of risk with unfamiliarity. Thus, it can be argued that minority business owners selling ethnic goods may find themselves at a crossroads of deciding whether they should stay true to the authenticity of their product at the risk of losing neophobic customers, or adapt their offerings to encourage cultural familiarity and reduce the uncertainty surrounding novel goods (Jang and Kim, 2015). In this case, I define cultural familiarity (and therefore unfamiliarity being the opposite definition) to be a consumer’s accumulated exposures to a country’s popular culture, and I argue that familiarity with a food’s country of origin can transform a novel food into a familiar food, thus increasing its level of acceptance.
Relating this concept to Mood Café, I noticed that, intentional or not, Hasan has adopted practices that reflect some of these anthropological principles. Specifically, he makes concerted efforts to connect personally with each of these customers. He explains the menu to newcomers, gives suggestions, and asks and answers questions. He even gives free samples, which Rebecca and I experienced firsthand, and offers to not charge customers who dislike what they try. These efforts all reduce the fear of unfamiliar food by lowering the risk of trying it. In doing so, Hasan’s customers are more likely to feel welcomed and comforted, find something they like, and then go on to tell their friends about the positive experience they had sampling and trying new Indian street food. In fact, Hasan is so confident in this practice, that his entire marketing strategy is the sole reliance on word of mouth. He has essentially no digital or online presence, and he attests his customers’ positive experiences, reviews on apps such as Yelp, and word of mouth as reasons for his success and growth. Additionally, Hasan’s decision to include chaat flavors like Mexican or Greek, or lassi flavors like peanut butter banana, is also arguably an attempt to lower the risk of uncertainty by increasing his American customers’ familiarity with his food.
Thinking more broadly about the impacts that such decisions have on a minority entrepreneur’s business, I contend that where on the spectrum an owner decides to fall, in terms of authentic vs. adapted, depends on what the owner’s priorities to achieve from their business are. Is the purpose of the business to be a purely economic investment? In that case, a strategy that is the most efficient and that yields highest profits and returns may be ideal, which could entail more adapted ethnic products, to avoid the efforts of having to familiarize customers and to increase likelihood of their interests. However, if one views the purpose of their business like Hasan does, which is to be creative and spread a certain message, lesson, or culture, then perhaps it is worth it to go through the seemingly more difficult process of maintaining authenticity but properly educating your customer base. I wouldn’t say that there is necessarily one right or wrong approach, or that it is even black-or-white. It truly depends on what the business owner deems is best for them, their business, and their customers’ interests, and that can even mean adopting both authentic and and adapted products, like Hasan did.
Perpetuating Racial Inequalities and ‘Othering’
While I could partially understand why Hasan felt he needed to adapt or Westernize elements of his menu, I must admit that part of me found it unsettling. Maybe I’m too much of a purist, but if people wanted a peanut butter beverage, why not go to their local smoothie and salad place? After digging deeper into the notion of exoticism in foods, I found the following definition from postcolonial theorist Graham Huggan on exoticism, which I found related to be relevant: “exoticism describes a particular mode of aesthetic perception … which oscillates between the opposite poles of strangeness and familiarity; exotic difference consequently operates as a double-edged sword that grants non-Western cultural objects and people acceptability to the extent that they do not stray too far towards strangeness” (Huggan, 2016).
I found this concerning because it essentially suggests that consumers’ desires for both authenticity and exoticism must be understood as existing within modern, Western value systems, which prize ideals such as individualism, sincerity and uniqueness in regards to authenticity, and novelty and difference in regards to exoticism, so long as they are within their predefined, Westernized, comfort zone. Attempting to adapt authentic ethnic products, while it may feel as though it is helping encourage cross-cultural understanding, actually poses the risk of exacerbating ethno-cultural differences. The idea that racial or ethnic majorities and their cultural tastes define what is considered authentic, original, or exotic only reinforces class hierarchies and “othering” of minority identities and the food that they identify with. So, to water down their food is arguably synonymous with watering down their culture or identity.
Another prominent postcolonial theorist, Edward Said, actually coined a term for this “othering”, known as Orientalism, which refers to how the West’s fascination with ‘the exotic Other’ is problematic as it situates the ‘primitivism’ of the East in opposition to the ‘rationality’ of the West, reinforcing the West’s superiority. Exoticism therefore produces seemingly exciting but inferior differences, resulting in desire for it alongside a simultaneous fear of it becoming overwhelminglypresent. Exotic difference thus operates as a double-edged sword that grants non-Western cultural objects and people acceptability to the extent that they do not stray too far towards strangeness (Huggan, 2016).
Concluding Thoughts
It is no secret that minority entrepreneurs face a unique set of challenges that other small business owners do not endure (Bates, 2011). Looking at these challenges from an anthropological perspective, I find that minority entrepreneurs selling ethnic products, in my case Indian street food, often find themselves trying to find a sweet spot of staying true to their authentic product versus adapting to their Westernized customer base. In the beginning of this paper, I discuss my motivation for exploring this topic—my interview with Indian street food Mood Café owner Hasan Bukhari. My conversation with Hasan pushed me to consider the reasons and circumstances under which a minority entrepreneur may consider to maintain a certain level of authenticity or not. It also pushed me to think critically about the larger impacts of this pressure. I found that while perhaps well-intentioned to either boost profits or better acclimate an unfamiliar crowd with a new culture, such watering down of a cultural product can actually reinforce Orientalist practice and racial othering.
Areas for Future Research
For anyone reading this paper interested in furthering their understanding of this dynamic between minority small business owners and their ethnic products, I would encourage looking into how the idea of authenticity of ethnic businesses plays a similar or different role across industries (e.g. food vs fashion), different geographies (e.g. do we see similar trends in Australia that we do in the US), and in larger businesses (e.g. chains, corporations, etc.) For example, past research has found that for ethnic populations whose cuisines are very popular with mainstream consumers, such as Italians, Chinese, and Mexicans, results follow the traditional theory in which chains are more likely to locate away from ethnic neighbourhoods. For groups whose cuisines are less popular, such as Caribbeans, Indians, and Koreans, however, a new pattern emerges in which chains exist alongside independent businesses in ethnic neighbourhoods. (Somashekhar, 2018). Extending on this research by looking at different industries or geographies, and pushing further into asking why these patterns emerge would be not only very interesting, but beneficial to know.
Works Cited
Abarca, M. E. (2004). AUTHENTIC OR NOT, IT’S ORIGINAL. Food and Foodways, 12(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710490467589
Bates, T. (2011). Minority Entrepreneurship. Foundations and Trends® in Entrepreneurship, 7(3-4), 151–311. https://doi.org/10.1561/0300000036
Huggan, G. (2016). Writing at the Margins: Postcolonialism, Exoticism and the Politics of Cultural Value (from The Postcolonial Exotic). Bourdieu and Postcolonial Studies, 17–52. https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781781382967.003.0002
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.03.011
Jordan, A. (2015). Business anthropology. MedTec.
Oleschuk, M. (2016). Foodies of Color: Authenticity and Exoticism in Omnivorous Food Culture. Cultural Sociology, 11(2), 217–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975516668709 Rozin, P., & Vollmecke, T. A. (1986). Food Likes and Dislikes. Annual Review of Nutrition, 6(1), 433–456. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.nu.06.070186.002245
Somashekhar, M. (2018). Ethnic economies in the age of retail chains: comparing the presence of chain-affiliated and independently owned ethnic restaurants in ethnic neighbourhoods. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(13), 2407–2429.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2018.1458606
Strom, S. (2013, July 8). American Tastes Branch Out, and Food Makers Follow. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/business/american-palate-grows-more-adve nturous.html.