But "authenticity" has no correlation with quality. An ethnic restaurant packed with people of that ethnicity also has no correlation with quality. People conflate authentic with good, but you can also be authentically bad.

I've been to plenty of "authentic" American Thanksgiving meals prepared by mediocre American home cooks. I've been to plenty of "authentic" small town American diners with horrible food.

Likewise, I've traveled around the world and have eaten plenty of poorly prepared local food that are off the typical tourist track. Thai food didn't taste better in Thailand. French food wasn't better in France. Coffee in Italy was crap. Sure, there were also amazing stand-outs, but I'm talking about your average business. It's impossible for all of them to be amazing. Just like back home in the US, your average restaurant will be cheap and mediocre. This is what your average person eats. Not everyone is a foodie. These are all authentically prepared meals by authentic locals—born and raised. Likewise, your average home prepared meal also won't be amazing because your average home cook isn't a star chef. Yes, a villager who doesn't have easy access to prepared foods may have a larger repertoire of cooking knowledge, but it doesn't necessarily translate to making delicious meals.