exploration, hidden gems, and gatekeeping
born too early to explore the galaxies, born too late to explore the earth, born just in time to explore the sketchy restaurant next door
this was written during my time at rabbitholeathon 4.0. see the presentation here, and my thoughts on rabbitholathon will go up soon!
i have this fascination that when i live somewhere for an extended period of time, to try to find hidden gems. i’ve always wondered about what made things hidden gems, and why i care so much about finding something that the masses haven’t.
so to start, what is a hidden gem? its easy to break it down into two, hidden, and gems - hidden meaning something hard to find and gem meaning something of value - so in other words a hidden gem is something of value which is hard to find.
hard to find could be digital - maybe the place has no online presence, or physical, behind an unmarked door. value is subjective, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
another way to look at hidden gems is to look at phrases with similar meanings, like “off the beaten path” and “diamond in the rough”, which can also mean that a hidden gem requires some effort to get to. now our definition of a hidden gem has a third part, that its something of value which is hard to find, and hard to get to.
something hard to find but hard to get to without value is unsatisfactory - doing all the work for something mid, just like the food scene in new york. something hard to get to but of value is just inaccessible, and something which is hard to find but of value is a rare find, both which arent as bad as something hard to find and hard to get to, because at least it has value.
and for the most part, hidden gems have always looked like this intersection, but the circle on the venn diagram for “hard to find” has gotten exponentially smaller due to the internet and social media. the sunday times restaurant critic marina o’loughin coined it best:
“anthony bourdain would always have been there first. these days, it’s an instagrammer often more interested in scoring likes than actually eating.”
the venn diagram for hidden gems now looks like this: the hidden bubble being a bit smaller now
with everything now documented online, and the rise of “influencers”, who care more about using experiences to gain more following, it’s increasingly harder to find something that hasn’t been discovered already. so while the hidden gem hasnt changed, its certainly become more and more obscure.
this obscurity invites the human nature to explore, and is one of the two reasons why people care about finding hidden gems. as humans, our brains have been conditioned to reward exploration - humans that were more curious tended to live longer, and is the reason behind many modern comforts.
we are born too early to explore the galaxies, born too late to explore the earth, but born just in time to explore the sketchy restaurant next door.
its like how people will go to remote corners of the world to see something no one’s ever seen before, finding hidden gems is a sort of new-age exploration. im interested in trying some dishes that most people around me havent tried before. im either going to be whelmed by this experience, or rewarded by this new knowledge of this obscure new thing that makes me feel better about myself.
this obscurity is also power, and this fundamental human desire is the other reason why people care about finding hidden gems. being in the know feels good, and this desire for power motivates people to discover hidden gems. this knowledge and power can be traded socially, in order to create and maintain relationships.
with great power comes great responsibility. gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. not everything is for everyone, and more often than not, oversharing of hidden gems have frequently led to ruining them. oversharing displaces people, and harms ecosystems.
in part of a larger issue, tourism introduces (generally) more affluent people into the local scene, often pricing out locals for which once was their livelihood, many examples include barcelona, hawaii, and venice. these locals, are then forced to move elsewhere, for which the city remains an empty shell of its former self - milked of its charm and personality.
these masses then disrupt local ecosystems, causing immense damage to beaches, jungles, etc. one popular example is everest, and the heaps of waste that have been introduced (double entendre on how sherpa lives have changed as a result), as well as organizations which have arisen to protect the ecosystem from overuse, such as keep tahoe blue
on something closer to the ground, i’ve found that many restaurants experience a decline in quality after going viral. all problems exist because of scale, and restaurants are no different. in a way, its heartbreaking see a once beloved gem run to the ground by a tiktok recommendation.
and this is what i argue for, that gatekeeping is an evil necessity. restricting the access to hidden gems protects their character and enables them to flourish naturally, in the sun of their own efforts. sure, people might stumble upon them either by accident or with intent, but the goal isnt to be the only person, its to filter out people who might not care about the importance of a gem, people who wear gems to flaunt. the effort that you go through makes you a better steward because you put in work to find it
its like geeks, mops, and sociopaths in subculture evolution(for which i read during the event). theres an optimal ratio of geeks (people who are really into the gem and contribute to make it better) to mops (people who are fans, and contribute mainly financially). by maintaining this balance, the gem can still thrive socially and financially.
so were near the end now, and i’ve brought up two points on hidden gems, and gatekeeping hidden gems. but if everyone gatekeeps, how are you actually supposed to find hidden gems, and how are you supposed to maintain this geek to mop ratio? the answer is word of mouth.
word of mouth builds credibility and reasoning behind a gem, while limiting who is aware of this gem. this control is power, and ensuring that the right people go to these gems helps in the natural growth of the gem, protecting it from overcrowding and any other related damage.
so when it comes to find hidden gems, remember that theyre not supposed to be easy to find. theyre something of value which is hard to find and hard to get to. some ways you can find them include:
talking to people, offline and online
walking down on google earth/maps
read the signs and take the risk
while the first two are pretty simple, reading the signs and taking the risk looks different in every scenario. maybe its a asian restaurant with a faded menu and the child doing homework and working the counter at the same time. maybe you end up on a smaller street of stores where all the tourists seem to disappear. but when you find your hidden gem, be sure to gatekeep, just a little bit :)
future readings: