"I’m interested in this relationship between doing things right and doing things the way they’ve always been done"

Unfortunately, the worst offenders have no idea how to do things right nor how to do things the way they’ve always been done.

The perils of inauthenticity are very real and very prevalent.

A visitor to Madrid is likely to get more authenticity from the gazpacho or salad they get at a local McDonalds then they are from someplace offering paella.

The true bonus of going somewhere like KFC or McDonalds abroad and having one of the unique local menu variants is that you already know the 'benchmark taste' that's being adapted, you can appreciate the adaptation for what it is and learn something about local tastes through that adaptation.
On the other hand, when you eat that horrible paella mixta with peas and onions you're unlikely to even realise that you're eating something that's been adapted beyond recognition solely to fit travelers' desires - you'll learn nothing.
The irony is that promenading visitors still occasionally burping up the taste of their vile Paellador will inwardly sneer at the tourists sitting outside the McDonalds utterly convinced that it is they that have had the meaningful gastronomic experience.