pickled jicama and wasabi sesame seeds” (Jackson 2017). In many cases, classic food is “reinvented” and “updated” with an exaggerated sense of nostalgia that, like authenticity, tends to appeal to outsiders who experience the food and the setting with greater attention to details, particularly those worth posting on social media.
It is perhaps not surprising that in both neighborhoods the words place, spot, city, street, and area appear quite frequently in the reviews, underscoring the importance of place in distinguishing restaurants. While these may not be used in the way that geographers conceptualize place as a set of social relations, they nevertheless reflect the importance of context, which was often described in detail in the reviews. It is also worth noting that Yelp reviewers often refer to Barrio Logan as “the barrio,” with an odd mixture of admiration and aversion. The terms discover and developer/ing also suggest that these places are in flux and not yet fully established. In fact, the neighborhoods themselves contribute to the attractiveness and authenticity of many food establishments that would not be valued equally in a different setting. For instance, a Yelp reviewer writes about her experience discovering Rolando’s Taco Shop in Barrio Logan:
I am scared! Scared of a lot of things about this place. Going there by myself. Sitting at a table. Touching anything. But I am not scared of the food. And that is why, I am giving this place in Barrio Logan 4 stars despite the … ummm … unsavoriness of the surroundings […] A little sketchy but the food is GREAT! […] Better than great. Hands down the best Carnitas and best Tortillas I have EVER had. […] We all left with full bellies and happy smiles. But we rushed to our car … didn’t want to be caught hanging around.
The urban aesthetic of the food establishments features prominently in the reviews and is often associated with values such as historic preservation, sustainability, and sociability—revealing a form of ethical consumerism whereby consumers seek to support causes or assert their moral values through consumption choices. Interest in sociability can be observed in the popularity of communal tables where strangers eat side by side and of open kitchens where diners can interact with bartenders, servers, and chefs. The expectation of social interaction is also an important aspect in gastropubs and breweries, which are very common in both neighborhoods. Outdoor eating areas also tend to be more casual and often include a small edible garden, which appeals to many educated and environmentally conscious consumers.
Figure 1.4. Barrio Logan and North Park’s Foodscapes. Maps and photographs by author.
The desire to preserve—or more accurately recreate—historic character can be observed in figure 1.4, which illustrates the material foodscape of City Heights and Barrio Logan. Many of the new restaurants embrace an industrial and urban architectural style that capitalizes on the existing hardscape of the neighborhood, but also seeks to reframe or elevate it by exaggerating certain details and appropriating elements from the past or other cultures. Vintage signs, colorful murals, rusted steel, wall gardens, and reclaimed wood are all very popular. The emerging landscape resembles what Jameson (1991) calls a “postmodern pastiche”—an imitation or cannibalization of the past that reflects our consumer culture and the commodification of style. This is especially noticeable in Barrio Logan, where elements of Chicano culture are used by many new businesses. For instance, Barrio Dogg’s counter is built out of a 1964 lowrider Chevy Impala; Por Vida’s signage resembles murals found in nearby Chicano Park—a key site of the Chicano movement which represents Mexican Americans’ struggles for social and environmental justice and was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places; and ¡Salud!’s interior décor includes both of these elements. These cultural symbols, however, appeal mostly to outsiders who interpret them as signs of authenticity and cosmopolitanism, while longtime residents for whom these symbols carry a different meaning tend to resent their commodification and decontextualization from the historic struggles they symbolize (Joassart-Marcelli and Bosco 2019).
Conclusion
Food has become a central element of the transformation of urban areas in San Diego and elsewhere, simultaneously reflecting and promoting gentrification. The examples of North Park and Barrio Logan illustrate that gentrification has a unique taste: a combination of cosmopolitanism, authenticity, democracy, and ethical consumerism that builds on existing assets for the benefits of new residents who use these attributes to set themselves apart from previous dwellers. These contemporary narratives of “good taste” are associated with particular food practices that are inherently connected to places but at the same time deny parts of their social histories. The ethnic and urban aesthetic of popular restaurants is an essential element of the geographic imaginary surrounding good taste and a key mechanism for pushing the gentrification frontier and assigning value to previously neglected urban areas. As older food outlets are replaced by expensive new eateries, the resulting discursive foodscape no longer reflects the lifestyle of longtime residents who feel increasingly excluded by the symbolic boundaries it creates (Joassart-Marcelli and Bosco 2020). In addition to the rising cost of purchasing food, residents feel out of place in many of the new shops and restaurants where the food, music, drinks, décor, and customers’ behavior reflect whiteness and class privilege. The displacement of classed and racialized residents in places that claim to be multicultural and authentic is poignantly illustrated in this Yelp post about a new Barrio Logan eatery:
The last time I came to this place I was extremely disappointed with the service I received […] I don’t know what’s worse: getting treated like shit by sorry to say it but white people who see nothing but a dark colored man in construction clothes or getting treated like shit in your own neighborhood by your own people who see nothing but a dark guy in construction clothes. The whole experience made me really upset and sad.
The “good taste” narratives that reify ethnic and working-class foods and commodify the neighborhoods where such foods have been historically prepared and consumed—albeit in different ways—are not produced in a vacuum. Neither are they simply the reflection of changing consumer preferences. As Zukin et al. (2009) argue, gentrification is a cultural process that is shaped by powerful actors. In our study neighborhoods, these actors include the restaurant industry, developers, neighborhood organizations, and local governments, who benefit from creating foodscapes that are perceived as authentic and cosmopolitan. For instance, in our two study areas, events such as the Taste of North Park, Ray at Night, or the Barrio Art Crawl are organized by neighborhood business associations to encourage visitors to come and explore art and food. The City of San Diego is also actively using food as a way to draw people to these neighborhoods through various sponsored events and publications praising Barrio Logan’s “authentic culinary delights” (San Diego Tourism Authority 2018) and describing North Park as a “true food lover’s sanctuary, for every craving and every taste bud” (Explore North Park 2018). San Diego Magazine, which publishes extensive restaurant reviews and annual “best of” lists, is primarily funded by advertising from local businesses, including restaurants as well as real estate and construction companies that may have common interests in the gentrification of neighborhoods around downtown San Diego.
To resist food gentrification, therefore, we must contend with these popular narratives that mask social exclusion under the guise of authenticity, cosmopolitanism, and democratic values. In doing so, we must consider the various actors involved in producing the taste of gentrification and the motives behind their efforts. More research on the urban politics of food retail will help bridge the gap between cultural and political-economic explanations of gentrification and identify avenues for resisting social exclusion and spatial displacement.
NOTES
1 1 To preserve the anonymity of Yelp reviewers, who made their comments public
