The True and the Better

In New York, the Neapolitan pizza is better than Neapolitan pizza in Naples. In New York, the Jordanian food is better than Jordanian food in Amman. In New York, the French brasserie food is better than French brasserie food in Paris. I believe these things, and I believe it’s probably true also about sushi and Southern/soul food and Chinese food (and notably not Cajun/Creole, or Mexican food, or Southern Indian or Thai). Not only do I believe these statements to be true but I’m pretty sure I understand (or at least, have a working hypothesis that explains) the social and economic processes that led this all to be the case. The question I have though is this: What is it called when the facsimile eclipses the original? Is there a word for that? Have there been scholarly papers written about it? If not, why the hell not?

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