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01/10/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Keeping It Real

Comedy writer Jane Bussmann reflects on our contemporary obsession with authenticity.

Comedy writer Jane Bussmann reflects on our contemporary obsession with authenticity. Why do we go to such lengths to source 'real' food, music, holidays and allegedly real people?

Anyone who prefers Jake Bugg to Harry Styles or Laura Marling to Lana del Rey; anyone who knows the farm that grows the beef they eat, wears vintage clothing, shops only locally or has ever been to Bhutan on holiday will know they belong to a very modern tribe - the Authenticity Seekers.

Comedy writer Jane Bussmann takes a personal tour round her life choices to ask why we are obsessed with authenticity. Is it a noble cause or another type of status seeking?

She's joined by Giles Coren on the trail of real food, by writer David Boyle on his allotment, by Hugh Barker who turns her ideas about authentic music upside down, and by smart philosophical thinkers Julian Baginni and Andrew Potter who explain some of the origins and the dangers of this contemporary cult. 

From New York we hear from NYTimes journalist Alessandra Stanley about our ability as audiences to determine what's real and what's fake.

Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.

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