ABSTRACT
This chapter examines co-existing claims to authenticity for different groups of kyoyasai, the criteria on which these articulations of authenticity are based and evaluated, and what this reveals about culinary heritage in Kyoto and beyond. Based on participant observation in Kyoto as well as informal and semi-structured interviews with farmers, chefs, local government officials, food experts, and consumers, and an analysis of texts marketing Kyoto vegetables. The chapter argues that actors in Kyoto's food industry articulate authenticity in terms of content, process, origin, and historical continuity. For chefs and food experts, origin also channels the notion of 'taste of place' or 'terroir'. The Kamigamo Heirloom Vegetable Research Organization, meanwhile, is a group of about 20 farmers who take turns growing and harvesting seeds for the kamo eggplant and a turnip variety called suguki that is traditionally pickled. Seeds hold the genetic material that supposedly carries the 'essence' of the varieties themselves. But seeds alone cannot ensure authenticity based on content.
