Late night rant: What's the very criterion of an authentic food?

So I read about this news report about banning foreign workers as the main cook in hawker stalls just now. Content is roughly about how government of Penang is considering to ban the employment of foreigners as the main cook in hawker stalls in order to protect their food heritage. 

First off, kudos to the effort of preserving the food heritage! Penang has a state government I really look up to, from the efforts of conserving environment, to providing free wi-fi all over the state, to now, preserving the food heritage. Many of my friends are so excited about this that it flushed other feeds in my news feed.

I get it, this is to ensure that our culture will not be 'polluted' by foreign cultures, but isn't it too fast to celebrate? I mean, what about the food? Yes, my concern here is just the food! Why care about the cook when food is the culture/heritage itself?!

For me, to preserve the food heritage, the taste must at least to be maintained. I want the authenticity of the food to be preserved! I don't care who's behind cooking the dish, be it a foreigner or a local. I know many would argue that the heritage is not only about the food, there's a whole lot more, the history, the ambiance, including how is it prepared and served. So, of course the cook is an important factor. But now, let's say you're given two dishes: 

1. Sarawak Kuching laksa cooked by a local Kuchingite but tastes like curry laksa, with fish balls  as the condiments dafuq?
2. Kuching laksa that reminds you of 古早味 but cooked by a 'kakak'

I know both are a bit offsetting, but this is what's happening now. Anyway, I'll go for option 2. In fact, I'd be even happy because see, even a foreigner can master the essence of the dish, at least the dish won't go 'extinct'.. don't mind me, just me being 'ah Q' .. 

But yeah, shouldn't us be sad that even foreigners can cook our traditional dish better than locals? And that's why the Penang government is thinking of implementing this policy. This is like indirectly admitting that the younger generations are just a bunch of incompetent fellas who don't even appreciate their culture.

But even still, should the taste be compromised? I just couldn't get over it. I can't accept the fact that our food being 'polluted' by foreign or some funny elements. I get that chances are the foreign cook don't understand the food enough and couldn't execute the dish. But most of the time, what I got was those innovative locals trying to be creative and ruin the dish. If that's the case, I'd rather have a kakak cooking what is being taught. 

So what's your take on this? I'm eager to see the Penang government coming out with a satisfying resolution. =)

Good night,

Dong