I do not seek an answer, but a discussion on the subject of "Fusion Cooking". Is Fusion cooking fused or just confused?
Wikipedia defines Fusion cuisine as: cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions. Cuisines of this type are not categorized according to any one particular cuisine style and have played a part in innovations of many contemporary restaurant menus.
I have experienced the good, bad and the ugly of fusion cooking. I have enjoyed French inspired Vietnamese Bánh Patê Sô (yum!!), refused to finish a ramen noodle burger (just a bad idea) and choked on a haggis taco (the ugly).
As a traveler, I see this trend increasing with the world becoming a smaller place. My hope is that we could have the best of both worlds, preserving the authentic native cuisines, while finding new and delicious combinations. Keep in mind that this is hardly a new trend. It's been happening along various borders for centuries. Remember, the first Thanksgiving was an example of culinary fusion!
This has been discussed here many times before. As you said, fusion cuisine is nothing new. As long as humans have been migrating from 1 area to another there as been fusion cuisine as they adapt their familar dishes to new, local foodstuffs or marry their cuisines with those of the people already living there. Or bring new foodstuffs back to their native lands to be incorporated into their home foods.
Today, with the world at our fingertips, chefs have the ability to "play" with just about any cuisine they wish. The results, as you stated, can be mixed, from the sublime to the downright nasty. While some chefs sometimes just get lucky, its my belief that you really cant consistently pull off any type of fusion cuisine until you have an intimate knowledge of the cuisines you want to fuse. Reading a couple of cookbooks on each cuisine isnt going to do it. You have to have a deeper understanding than that to make it work on a consistent basis
Here in Vancouver, Chinese New Year is a pretty big thing. By sheer coincidence, Robbie Burns day usually falls the same time. A couple of enterprising bars have a "Gung Haggis fat choy" buffet for that day...
IMO the best examples of fusion are those that come about because the cuisines in question cohabitated the same geographical areas at some point in time.
See, the Singaporeans (well, many Asians, actually) have this love affair with fishballs, 9 out of 10 noodle dishes have them. Fishball pizza is what happens when you let a S'porean go creative in an American style pizza joint....
Wow. I am suddenly wondering why formed/steamed fish balls haven't caught on as a pizza topping in Japan. They're WAY into the things, and they don't have much truck with what we in the US tend to think are ordinary pizza toppings. And yet, I've never seen fish-cakes.
In my area, I find restaurants don't seem to grasp the fundamentals of good fusion, instead simply expanding their inventory to include all manner of exotic ingredients with little relation to each other or providing the menu with any focus or theme. Any given menu item may be composed of multiple ingredients previously never combined, thrown together and presented as being a creative take on something else. Multiple menu items with ingredients from multiple cultures and cuisines all on the same page.
I will grant that there are some individual items that taste good and present well but in looking over the menu from a professional standpoint, all this process really does is bloat the inventory and lower the profit margin and does nothing to present anything coherent to the customer.
I've noticed too that many of the same restaurants claim to be local, farm to table and seasonal, which is a bit of a farce given all the imported ingredients they need to put together such a diverse menu. All of which calls in to question the freshness of the inventory, as not all items will sell well consistently.
When I go out to spend my money, I still prefer restaurants with a single focus, whether that is haute French cuisine or a burger joint.
Sadly I've noticed lately help wanted ads, even for corporate/institutional jobs, expect the prospective chef to be familiar with everything from Mediterranean to Asian to South American cuisines, which tells me they don't get it either, but are just trying to follow the latest trends.
Here in Vancouver, Chinese New Year is a pretty big thing. By sheer coincidence, Robbie Burns day usually falls the same time. A couple of enterprising bars have a "Gung Haggis fat choy" buffet for that day...
The one in this video mixes in a bag.. I would say most actually do it in a wok to start the garlic, scallions, etc cooking and then toss in the crawfish
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