Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table

This paper focuses on constructions of authenticity in a high-end restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. The restaurant self-identifies as ‘Bornholmian’ and thereby it creates a link to the island of Bornholm, some 160 km from Copenhagen. Bornholm is introduced discursively as an interpretive universe...

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Main Authors: Martha Karrebaek, Marie Maegaard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago 2017-01-01
Series:Semiotic Review
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Online Access:https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/35
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author Martha Karrebaek
Marie Maegaard
author_facet Martha Karrebaek
Marie Maegaard
author_sort Martha Karrebaek
collection DOAJ
description This paper focuses on constructions of authenticity in a high-end restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. The restaurant self-identifies as ‘Bornholmian’ and thereby it creates a link to the island of Bornholm, some 160 km from Copenhagen. Bornholm is introduced discursively as an interpretive universe and as an essential part of the restaurant’s claim to value. We show how authenticity is performed, created, and treated reflexively. We concentrate on servers’ authenticating discursive moves and their crucial role in guiding guests’ attention to relevant elements, and we point out that authenticity is a potential that does not always materialize fully. We also discuss guests’ role in the creative processes. The restaurant’s construction of a comprehensive semiotic experience includes food, décor, photos, tableware, and narratives; dialect features are used to heighten the intensity of the guests’ experience. We build on Coupland’s (2003, 2014) semantic dimensions of authenticity, that lay out the meaning dimensions contributing to an understanding of authenticity, and on Coupland & Coupland’s (2014) frames of authenticity. Here (constructed) authenticity emerges through interactional frames that participants can orient to and draw upon in their creation of value. Frames of cultural, recreational and material authenticity are continuously made relevant, and tradition, or historicity, and place of production, or ontology, are important semantic dimensions. The data set consists of interviews with staff, recordings of servers at work, visits to the restaurant webpage, and ethnographic field-notes and photos.
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spelling doaj-art-aa2eddba10f74bfda30511349b614db42025-08-20T03:31:33ZengDepartment of Anthropology, University of ChicagoSemiotic Review3066-81072017-01-01510.71743/kbj55278Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a TableMartha KarrebaekMarie Maegaard This paper focuses on constructions of authenticity in a high-end restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. The restaurant self-identifies as ‘Bornholmian’ and thereby it creates a link to the island of Bornholm, some 160 km from Copenhagen. Bornholm is introduced discursively as an interpretive universe and as an essential part of the restaurant’s claim to value. We show how authenticity is performed, created, and treated reflexively. We concentrate on servers’ authenticating discursive moves and their crucial role in guiding guests’ attention to relevant elements, and we point out that authenticity is a potential that does not always materialize fully. We also discuss guests’ role in the creative processes. The restaurant’s construction of a comprehensive semiotic experience includes food, décor, photos, tableware, and narratives; dialect features are used to heighten the intensity of the guests’ experience. We build on Coupland’s (2003, 2014) semantic dimensions of authenticity, that lay out the meaning dimensions contributing to an understanding of authenticity, and on Coupland & Coupland’s (2014) frames of authenticity. Here (constructed) authenticity emerges through interactional frames that participants can orient to and draw upon in their creation of value. Frames of cultural, recreational and material authenticity are continuously made relevant, and tradition, or historicity, and place of production, or ontology, are important semantic dimensions. The data set consists of interviews with staff, recordings of servers at work, visits to the restaurant webpage, and ethnographic field-notes and photos. https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/35authenticitysemantic dimensionsframesthe restaurant experiencepork
spellingShingle Martha Karrebaek
Marie Maegaard
Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
Semiotic Review
authenticity
semantic dimensions
frames
the restaurant experience
pork
title Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
title_full Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
title_fullStr Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
title_full_unstemmed Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
title_short Pigs, Herring, and Bornholm on a Table
title_sort pigs herring and bornholm on a table
topic authenticity
semantic dimensions
frames
the restaurant experience
pork
url https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/35
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