Essay: "Keeping it Real"

It seems to me that people, especially our generation, are very preoccupied with "authenticity."  You best see this when people go on vacation.  You'll take a trip to Rome or Paris and you'll be looking around for for a restaurant to go to, and you'll think to yourself: "I don't want to go to some tourist joint, I want to go get real Italian/French food.  I want to eat where the locals eat.  I want to get something authentic."

Which begs the question: if you are a tourist, isn't going to a tourist restaurant the authentic thing to do?  Isn't going to a local restaurant sort of a poseur move?