Food media can provide broader audiences an opportunity to interact and experience food. Therefore, it is a key ingredient to how audiences will perceive authenticity in food. This study analyzes quantitative and qualitative data from 623 food videos on Youtube from 6 different food centric channels to compare which video attributes consumers prefer and how those attributes are related to authenticity. With the use of several multivariable linear models, this research demonstrates that video viewership is impacted by whether or not food video personalities have an identity that aligns with the general cultural background of a dish. Secondly, using text sentiment analysis this study shows that viewers care more about authenticity when the dish in the video is aligned with the personality in the video. While there are certain factors that influence audiences to deem some videos more authentic than others, looking into video characteristics and featured personality characteristics expands our understanding of how users are determining the authenticity of food. Food media has had a long impact on consumer perceptions of culinary and cultural acceptance. As we look to the future of food media, we must understand how past racial norms and historical references provide a complicated context to food narratives perpetuated in media and in our home kitchens.