Fusion cuisine

Last updated
Gobi Manchurian is an Indian-Chinese fusion dish, consisting of fried cauliflower. The dish is popular throughout India and Indian restaurants as well as South Asian restaurants around the world. Gobi manchurian.jpg
Gobi Manchurian is an Indian–Chinese fusion dish, consisting of fried cauliflower. The dish is popular throughout India and Indian restaurants as well as South Asian restaurants around the world.
Example of a fusion dish: combination of smoked salmon wrapped in rice paper, with avocado, cucumber and crab sticks Salmon rice roll.JPG
Example of a fusion dish: combination of smoked salmon wrapped in rice paper, with avocado, cucumber and crab sticks

Fusion cuisine is a cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions, or cultures. Cuisines of this type are not categorized according to any one particular cuisine style and have played a part in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s. [1]

Contents

The term fusion cuisine, added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002, is defined as "a style of cookery which blends ingredients and methods of preparation from different countries, regions, or ethnic groups; food cooked in this style." [2]

Categories

Pancit palabok in Filipino cuisine, combines rice noodles and tofu from China with native smoked fish flakes in a shrimp sauce dyed bright orange with annatto seeds from Mexico and garnished with crushed chicharon from Spain. It is served spritzed with native calamansi. 03368jfNagwaling Diwa National Roads Welcome Pilar Bataanfvf 26.JPG
Pancit palabok in Filipino cuisine, combines rice noodles and tofu from China with native smoked fish flakes in a shrimp sauce dyed bright orange with annatto seeds from Mexico and garnished with crushed chicharon from Spain. It is served spritzed with native calamansi.

Fusion food is created by combining various cooking techniques from different cultures to produce a new type of cuisine. Although it is commonly invented by chefs, fusion cuisine can occur naturally. Cuisines which get fused can either come from a particular region (such as East Asian cuisine and European cuisine), sub-region (such as Southwestern American cuisine and New Mexican cuisine) or a country (such as Chinese cuisine, Japanese cuisine, Korean cuisine, French cuisine, Italian cuisine).

Asian fusion restaurants which combine the various cuisines of different Asian countries have become popular in many parts of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Often featured are East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian dishes alongside one another and offering dishes that are inspired combinations of such cuisines. [3] California cuisine is considered a fusion culture, taking inspiration particularly from Italy, France, Mexico, the idea of the European delicatessen, and East Asia, and then creating traditional dishes from these cultures with non-traditional ingredients – such as California pizza. In Australia, due to immigration, fusion cuisine is being reinvented and is becoming increasingly the norm at numerous cafes and restaurants, with Asian-fusion restaurants like Tetsuya's in Sydney ranking highly in The World's 50 Best Restaurants. [4]

In the United Kingdom, fish and chips can be seen as an early fusion dish due to its marrying of ingredients stemming from Jewish, French, and Belgian cuisines. [5] [6]

Filipino cuisine is sometimes characterized as the "original Asian fusion cuisine", combining native culinary traditions and ingredients with the very different cuisines of China, Spain, Malaysia, Thailand and Mongolia, among others, due to its unique colonial history. [7] Food in Malaysia (also Indonesia) is another example of fusion cuisine which blends Malay, Javanese, Chinese and Indian and light influences from Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, and British cuisines. [8] Oceanic cuisine combines the different cuisines of the various island nations. [9]

Types

Another form of fusion food can be created by utilizing ingredients and flavors from one culture to create a unique twist on a dish from the different cultures. For example, a taco pizza is a type of pizza created using taco ingredients such as cheddar and pepper jack cheese, salsa, refried beans, and other common taco ingredients, fusing both Italian and Mexican cuisines. [10]

Similar approaches have been used for fusion sushi, such as rolling maki with different types of rice and ingredients such as curry and basmati rice, cheese and salsa with Spanish rice, or spiced ground lamb and capers rolled with Greek-style rice and grape leaves, which resembles inside-out dolmades. Some fusion cuisines have themselves become accepted as a national cuisine, as with Peruvian Nikkei cuisine, which combines Japanese spices and seasonings and Peruvian ingredients like ají with seafood. A quintessential Peruvian Nikkei dish is "maki acevichado" or "ceviche roll", consisting of ceviche with avocado rolled into maki. [11]

Saudi Arabia has been investing in resources to preserve their culture. In Jeddah, different cultures from Africa and Asia have used the combination of Saudi Arabia's spices to create new fusion foods found throughout the region and the country. [12]

History

Kaeng phet pet yang (Thai roast duck curry) is an example of early fusion cuisine of the cosmopolitan court of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, combining Thai red curry, Chinese roast duck, and grapes originally from Persia. Red roast duck curry.jpg
Kaeng phet pet yang (Thai roast duck curry) is an example of early fusion cuisine of the cosmopolitan court of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, combining Thai red curry, Chinese roast duck, and grapes originally from Persia.
Traditional Ethiopian cuisine blended with Texas-style barbeque, including pork, smoked brisket, and Texas toast Ethiopian cuisine fusion.jpg
Traditional Ethiopian cuisine blended with Texas-style barbeque, including pork, smoked brisket, and Texas toast

Fusion cuisine has existed for millennia as a form of cross-cultural exchange, though the term was only defined in the late 1900s. Mixtures of different cultures' cuisines have been adapted since the 16th century.

Colonialism

A lasting legacy of colonialism is fusion food. Colonial trade resulted in the exchange of ingredients, such as bánh mì originating from French ingredients used in French Indochina, Jamaican patties combining the turnover with spices and peppers from the British Empire's possessions in Asia and Africa, and ramen originating as "shina soba" or "Chinese noodle" from the Empire of Japan's occupation of China's island territories in the late 1800s and early 1900s. [13] [14] Indigenous domestic servants were active participants in creating fusion foods by mixing ingredients and techniques. [15]

Alongside the creation of new dishes, colonialism also introduced class dimensions of food as cultural capital that modified consumption patterns. [16] Indigenous practices of eating guinea pigs in Peru were banned and considered savage until recent movements to reclaim food practices, resulting in the erasure of much traditional knowledge in indigenous communities. [17] These hierarchies are argued to be present in modern fusion food, which has been criticised for being portrayed as European cuisines 'elevating' other cuisines into modernity. [18] Colonial debates also extend into discourse about the authenticity of foods such as the origins of Chicken tikka masala, and orientalist critiques of immigrant food being gentrified as ‘ethnic’ food. [19]

Adaptation to local palates

In a climate of increasing globalization, where cultures and cuisines frequently cross-borders, cooking and food evolves to cater to the palates of the local communities, a phenomenon known as "glocalization", a portmanteau of "localization" and "globalization".” Fusion cuisine is sometimes created by multinational restaurants, especially fast food chains. A primary example of this corporate globalized expansion is in the case of McDonald's regional menus which are adapted to "reflect different tastes and local traditions for every country in which we have restaurants". [20] In addition to catering to the regional food traditions, McDonald's also takes an additional consideration for religious beliefs and laws, as seen in the absence of beef and pork items on Indian menus.

Beyond accounting for the cultural or religious differences in cuisine, some fusion foods have also been created to fit the taste preferences of local communities when ethnic or cultural foods from abroad were introduced. A hallmark example of this adaptation is in the popular sushi roll, the California roll, which was created in America in the latter half of the 20th-century. A popular myth behind its composition containing crab, vegetables, and rice on the exterior cites the American aversion to foreign ingredients such as raw fish and seaweed.

These adjustments to foreign cuisines have both corporate and historical origins. In the example of McDonald's, the creation of regional menus can be seen as an economic choice to cater to the local palates and traditions. Another example of popularized fusion foods is the Korean stew budae-jjigae , which was created by combining American ingredients of Spam, Vienna sausages, and sliced cheese, in a kimchi stew in the wake of the Korean War during which American tastes and influence were prevalent in Korea. [21]

Role of immigration

Immigrants play a significant role in shaping modern fusion cuisine. [22]   Food can often be a form of cultural expression that fosters a relationship with one's heritage, and fusion can emerge from creating foods from immigrant's adaptation of their own cultural food to the ingredients available in the host country or region. Immigrants may adapt the use of their cultural ingredients to local culinary traditions. For example, Vietnamese immigrants in the Southern United States used Vietnamese condiments in traditionally Creole cuisine, while adhering to Southern cooking methods. [23] Similarly, the establishment of American Chinese cuisine has origins in Chinese-owned small businesses in American ghettos and Chinatowns, with many of these restaurants responsible for the adaptation of Chinese cuisine to American paletes.

Immigrants may also adapt their cultural flavors to the availability of ingredients in the host country: Indian-Chinese cuisine shaped by Chinese immigrants to British-ruled India often uses Indian spice and flavor profiles such as garam masala and turmeric. [24] As such, immigrant-founded fusion cuisines also play a role in shaping food culture in the host country by introducing new flavors and ingredients.

Indian-Chinese cuisine is an example of how gradual migration and exchange across shared international borders contributes to fusion cuisine. Similar cases are Sino-Korean food emerging from Chinese diasporas in Korea and shared borders between Korea and Northeastern China, and Mexican-American cuisine influenced by Mexican immigration to the Southwest United States that combines Mexican, Indigenous American, and European flavors.  

The convergence of two or more immigrant groups in a different host country can also lead to the emergence of fusion cuisines. Chinese and Latin American immigrants to the United States have collaboratively founded fusion restaurants, serving dishes such as Chinese dumplings filled with traditional slow-roasted pork from the Yucatàn Peninsula. [25] In the United States, Asian fusion cuisine can constitute pan-Asian multi-ethnic ingredients such as rice, leading to a newfound form of "American" Asian food unfound in Asia. [26] One popular example of pan-Asian fusion food found in North America is the rice bowl, often with ingredients commonly used together in Asia such as garlic with chili, stir-fried vegetables with tofu. [27] This illustrates the dynamic process between fusion food and its relationship with intercultural solidarity, influenced by both local and other immigrant cultures.

Modern fusion food

Japanese cooking techniques were combined with French techniques in 1970s France to create nouvelle cuisine. [28]

Wolfgang Puck is attributed as one of the pioneers of fusion cuisine, with some dispute. [13] However, his restaurant Chinois on Main was named after the term attributed to Richard Wing, who in the 1960s combined French and Chinese cooking at the former Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, California. [29]

Chef Norman Van Aken was the first person to use the term "fusion cooking" as he delivered a speech at a symposium in Santa Fe in 1988. Soon journalist Regina Schrambling wrote about Van Aken's work and the term spread around the globe. [30] Norman Van Aken ended his speech by discussing the history of fusion cuisine, such as the use of coffee in Italian cuisine. [31] Van Aken related this to coffee being used in different desserts such as Calabrian ricotta with chocolate mousse. [32]

List of fusion cuisine

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Chinese cuisine</span> Chinese cuisine developed by Chinese Americans

American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those found in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American cuisine</span> Food culture of the United States

American cuisine consists of the cooking style and traditional dishes prepared in the United States. It has been significantly influenced by Europeans, Indigenous Americans, Africans, Latin Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and many other cultures and traditions. Principal influences on American cuisine are European, Native American, soul food, regional heritages including Cajun, Louisiana Creole, Pennsylvania Dutch, Mormon foodways, Texan, Tex-Mex, New Mexican, and Tlingit, and the cuisines of immigrant groups such as Chinese American, German American, Greek American, Italian American, Jewish American, and Mexican American. The large size of America and its long history of immigration have created an especially diverse cuisine that varies by region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of China

Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuisine</span> Characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions

A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to enable dishes unique to a region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiwanese cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Taiwan

Taiwanese cuisine is a popular style of food with several variations, including Chinese and that of Taiwanese indigenous peoples, with the earliest cuisines known of being the indigenous ones. With over a hundred years of historical development, mainstream Taiwanese cuisine has been influenced by Hakka cuisine, the cuisines of the waishengren, Japanese cuisine, and American cuisine, with southern Fujian cuisine having had the most profound impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuisine of California</span> Culinary traditions of California

The cuisine of California reflects the diverse culture of California and is influenced largely by European American, Hispanic American, East Asian and Oceanian influences, and Western European influences, as well as the food trends and traditions of larger American cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin American cuisine</span> Broad culinary traditions

Latin American cuisine is the typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a highly racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse with varying cuisines. Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based dishes arepas, empanadas, pupusas, tacos, tamales, tortillas and various salsas and other condiments. Sofrito, a culinary term that originally referred to a specific combination of sautéed or braised aromatics, exists in Latin American cuisine. It refers to a sauce of tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, garlic, onions and herbs. Rice, corn, pasta, bread, plantain, potato, yucca, and beans are also staples in Latin American cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California cuisine</span> Food from California

California cuisine is a food movement that originated in Northern California. The cuisine focuses on dishes that are driven by local and sustainable ingredients with an attention to seasonality and an emphasis on the bounty of the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Canada

Canadian cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances around the country. First Nations and Inuit have practiced their culinary traditions in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. The advent of European explorers and settlers, first on the east coast and then throughout the wider territories of New France, British North America and Canada, saw the melding of foreign recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients with indigenous flora and fauna. Modern Canadian cuisine has maintained this dedication to local ingredients and terroir, as exemplified in the naming of specific ingredients based on their locale, such as Malpeque oysters or Alberta beef. Accordingly, Canadian cuisine privileges the quality of ingredients and regionality, and may be broadly defined as a national tradition of "creole" culinary practices, based on the complex multicultural and geographically diverse nature of both historical and contemporary Canadian society.

Peruvian cuisine reflects local practices and ingredients including influences mainly from the indigenous population, including the Inca, and cuisines brought by immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Without the familiar ingredients from their home countries, immigrants modified their traditional cuisines by using ingredients available in Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of food preparation</span> Art form and applied science to make food ingredients palatable and fit to eat

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the preparation of food:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Chinese cuisine</span> Fusion cuisine combining Indian and Chinese traditions

Indian Chinese cuisine, Chinese Indian cuisine, Sino-Indian cuisine, Chindian cuisine, Hakka Chinese or Desi-Chinese cuisine is a distinct style of Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian tastes, combining Chinese foods with Indian flavours and spices. Though Asian cuisines have mixed throughout history throughout Asia, the most popular origin story of the fusion food resides with Chinese labourers of Calcutta, who immigrated to British India looking for work. Opening restaurant businesses in the area, these early Chinese food sellers adapted their culinary styles to suit Indian tastes.

<i>Chifa</i> Chinese Cantonese and Peruvian fusion culinary tradition

Chifa is a Chinese Peruvian culinary tradition based on Cantonese elements fused with traditional Peruvian ingredients and traditions. The term is also used to refer to restaurants that serve the chifa cuisine.

<i>Lomo saltado</i> Peruvian stir fry dish

Lomo saltado is a popular, traditional Peruvian dish, a stir fry that typically combines marinated strips of sirloin with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and other ingredients; and is typically served with rice. The dish originated as part of the chifa tradition, the Chinese cuisine of Peru, though its popularity has made it part of the mainstream culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese fried rice</span> Family of fried rice dishes

Chinese fried rice is a family of fried rice dishes popular in Greater China and around the world. It is sometimes served as the penultimate dish in Chinese banquets, just before dessert.

The global cuisine or world cuisine is a cuisine that is practiced around the world. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific region, country or culture. To become a global cuisine, a local, regional or national cuisine must spread around the world, its food served worldwide. There have been significant improvements and advances during the 20th century in food preservation, storage, shipping and production, and today many countries, cities and regions have access to their traditional cuisines and many other global cuisines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culinary diplomacy</span> Type of cultural diplomacy

Culinary diplomacy, gastrodiplomacy or food diplomacy is a type of cultural diplomacy, which itself is a subset of public diplomacy. Its basic premise is that "the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach". Official government-sponsored culinary diplomacy programs have been established in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, Israel, the United States, Cambodia, Japan, and Nordic countries.

References

  1. ↑ Lindsey, Robert (1985-08-18). "California grows her own cuisine". New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Home : Oxford English Dictionary". www.oed.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-12. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  3. ↑ "Asian Cuisine & Foods : Asian-Nation :: Asian American History, Demographics, & Issues". Asian-Nation. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  4. ↑ "World Food Cuisines" . Retrieved 16 Nov 2016.
  5. ↑ Black, Les (1996). New Ethnicities And Urban Cult. Oxford: Routledge. p. 15. ISBN   978-1-85728-251-1.
  6. ↑ Alexander, James (18 December 2009). "The unlikely origin of fish and chips". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Halpern, Sue; McKibben, Bill (May 2015). "Filipino Cuisine Was Asian Fusion Before "Asian Fusion" Existed". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "Asia's original fusion food". Mark C O'Flaherty. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  9. ↑ "What is Fusion Cuisine?". Wise Geek. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  10. ↑ "Taco Pizza Recipe". All Recipes. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  11. ↑ Takenaka, Ayumi (2017). "Immigrant integration through food: Nikkei cuisine in Peru". Contemporary Japan. 29 (2): 117–131. doi:10.1080/18692729.2017.1351022. S2CID   134330815.
  12. ↑ Radke, Heather; Al-Senan, Maha (2015). "Fusion Cuisine and Bedouin Handcraft: the Transformative Power of Heritage Preservation in Saudi Arabia". The Public Historian. 37 (2): 89–96. doi:10.1525/tph.2015.37.2.89. ISSN   0272-3433. JSTOR   10.1525/tph.2015.37.2.89.
  13. 1 2 Magazine, Smithsonian. "Sorry, Wolfgang, Fusion Foods Have Been With Us for Centuries". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  14. ↑ "The History of Fusion Cuisine". Exquisite Taste. 2015-12-04. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  15. ↑ Cox, Rosie (September 2013). "Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire". Asian Studies Review. 37 (3): 402–403. doi:10.1080/10357823.2013.823845. ISSN   1035-7823.
  16. ↑ "Colonization, Food, and the Practice of Eating – Food Empowerment Project" . Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  17. ↑ defrance, Susan D. (January 2006). "The Sixth Toe: The Modern Culinary Role of the Guinea Pig In Southern Peru". Food and Foodways. 14 (1): 3–34. doi:10.1080/07409710500334517. ISSN   0740-9710.
  18. ↑ Janer, Zilkia (March 2007). "(IN)EDIBLE NATURE: New world food and coloniality". Cultural Studies. 21 (2–3): 385–405. doi:10.1080/09502380601162597. ISSN   0950-2386.
  19. ↑ "Why we need to stop calling immigrant food 'ethnic'". The Independent. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  20. ↑ "Why is the McDonald's menu different in different countries?". www.mcdonalds.com. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  21. ↑ Hong, Ashley (2021-01-01). "Korean Fusion: Consuming a Globalized Korea Through Food and Music". Honors Theses.
  22. ↑ "Beyond the 'shame' narrative: How immigrants express culture through food". The Varsity. 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  23. ↑ Chen, Natasha (2023-05-13). "These Asian fusion cuisines tell an American story". CNN. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  24. ↑ Sankar, Amal (2017-12-01). "Creation of Indian–Chinese cuisine: Chinese food in an Indian city". Journal of Ethnic Foods. 4 (4): 268–273. doi: 10.1016/j.jef.2017.10.002 . ISSN   2352-6181.
  25. ↑ "Mexican-Chinese Food". Bon Appétit. 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  26. ↑ "Asian Fusion Cuisine and the Tug and Pull of Foreign Identity". Brown Political Review. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  27. ↑ "Pan-Asian Fried Rice". Food Network. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  28. ↑ "Fusion Cuisine | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  29. ↑ Khokha, Sasha (2005-07-15). "In Rural California, an Imperial Dynasty Ends". National Public Radio.
  30. ↑ Magazine, Smithsonian; Esposito, Shaylyn. "Why We Have Norman Van Aken to Thank for the Way We Dine Out Today". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  31. ↑ "Origins and history of Italian coffee". Exclusive Brands Torino. Archived from the original on 2022-05-21. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  32. ↑ pvillanueva (2018-09-04). "On Fusion Cooking". Norman Van Aken. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.