Abstract
This paper describes fusion cuisine and its historical influences. It describes pre-modern culinary exchange between remote cultures. The spread of curry and noodles are observed as cases that help explain the pre-modern spread of culinary influences. Combining of different ethnic cuisines in 1970s led to the development of a special fusion style in California. A simple approach and high regard for fresh local foods were especially important. Several chefs initiated the practice that soon spread throughout the world. Principles of successful combining of different cooking styles in fusion cuisine are explained at the end.
Keywords: Fusion cuisine, culinary exchange, California, fresh, local food
Fusion Cuisine
The fusion cuisine is a term for a culinary fashion that focuses on mixing ingredients and cooking techniques characteristic for various ethnic cuisines. In the modern sense of the term, fusion cuisine dates back to 1970’s and work of famous chef Wolfgang Puck. However, if we consider broader understanding of fusion cuisine as a term coined to describe hybridization of culinary ideas, then we might conclude it is actually an ancient practice. The exchange of culinary techniques and ingredients has always been a noticeable aspect of cultural exchange, almost always present when there was contact exchange between cultures powered either by diplomacy, trade, immigration or military conquest.
Modern fusion cuisine started in the 70’s, when European-trained chef Wolfgang Puck, proficient in both European and Asian cuisine started, mixing the two and created the Eurasian cuisine. Puck worked in California which is geographically situated between Europe and Asia, searching for a way to blend the two of his favorite cuisines. His ideas were soon accepted in many restaurants of Californian multicultural urban centers and his Eurasian cooking-style soon fueled imagination of chefs who took it much further. During the later decades, the ideas and principles of fusion cuisine powered by an increasing force of globalization and the cultural eclecticism of postmodern era spread throughout the world. Today we can hardly talk about fusion cuisine as one single culinary movement – it can more appropriately be understood as a certain level of openness in reinterpreting culinary traditions. Usually a single dish is made by combining ingredients and techniques typical for two or more cultures. A logical example would be, for instance, a combination of Italian and Japanese cuisines – both cuisines hold high regard for fresh ingredients and minimal interventions in their natural taste. However, some proclaimed fusion restaurants avoid actual hybrids of ethnic cuisines but instead serve dishes from different cultures along each other, but intact. Around the world there is also an ever growing number of fusion restaurants focused only on particular regions of the world, like southeast-Asian fusion cuisine, or Middle Eastern fusion cuisine.
The question arises - are they using their fusion-label correctly? Or even further – can we talk about the issue of authenticity in fusion cooking? To answer those questions we must investigate deeper into the phenomenon of hybridization of culinary practices.
In Great Britain, a national debate about authenticity was opened when foreign minister Robin Cook declared chicken tikka masala as a new British national dish. Lizzie Collingham described a harsh critic response by British food critics: “Rather than the inspired invention of an enterprising Indian chef, this offensive dish was dismissed as the result of an ignorant customer’s complaint that his chicken tikka was too dry” (2006. p. 2); Collingham further added that the most severe objection of critics was not the foul taste of the dish, but the fact it was not authentic. Some of the critics also noted that none of the curries eaten in Britain and America were authentic and that most Indian food was in fact cooked by cooks from Bangladesh. Collingham, on the other hand, confronted the very notion of authenticity, describing surprising differences of culinary practices in different regions of India. She explained that the taste of present day curries was a product of many centuries of Indian history. Two especially important historical events shaped the fate of culinary culture of India, and thus also the taste of contemporary curry. One was the arrival of Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, who opened the trade route between Europe and India, while second was Mughal invasion on India that opened Indian subcontinent to influences from the Islamic world. As a result of these events, the new ingredients and styles were brought to India. What we today understand as authentic Indian cuisine is actually a locally created mixture of Indian, central Asian, Persian and European cuisines.
Another example of pre-modern fusion cuisine is noodles, whose origin is the center of centuries old culinary dispute between China and Italy. In 2005, archeologists perfectly preserved ancient discovered millet noodles in China that reopened a discussion about who invented the noodles first. The most popular theory was that noodles were brought from China to Italy by the explorer Marco Polo, however it was challenged by a food historian Clifford Wright (cited in Civitello 2008, p 81). In his book “A Mediterranean Feast”, Wright claimed that “Marco Polo theory” is wrong. He differentiated between Chinese noodles and Italian pasta and supported his claims by the fact that China did not have the key ingredient for pasta – semolina and durum wheat. Wright argued that the origin of “true macaroni”, or pasta made from durum wheat and dried, was probably”at the juncture of medieval Sicilian, Italian, and Arab cultures” (from Civitello 2008, p. 81). Regardless of which theory is more likely, it is obvious that the notions of authenticity of ethnic cuisines can be misleading and that fusion of various cuisines was by all means present in the pre-modern world, shaping ethnic culinary horizons as we know the today.
It is not a coincidence that complex culinary phenomenon of curry developed and evolved in a place like India which is a meeting point of many different cultures. Also, it is not a coincidence that the birthplace of contemporary fusion cuisine is the state of California. In an article published in The New York Times during the peak of popularity of fusion cuisine in 1985, journalist Robert Lindsey described the reasons behind the success of fusion cuisine in California. Just like every other successful cooking style, fusion cuisine emphasizes fresh, local ingredients. Simplicity of cooking is another important issue. Menus develop in accordance with the time of year, utilizing fresh fruits, herbs, seafood and meats. An incredible diversity of local foods is nowhere as great as in California. Variety of fresh produce is also paired with great attention to details; Lindsey observed that often as much attention is devoted to fresh salads as to complicated dishes. Furthermore, California was receiving immigrants from various parts of the world, including Latin America, Europe and Asia. Californian fusion cuisine developed when a popular style, inspired by cooking styles of Northern Italy combined styles of Western Europe with cuisines of Japan, China, Mexico, Southeast Asia as well as less common cuisines like American indigenous cooking. It is not easy to define the Californian fusion style but all chefs agreed about one thing – it is not about exotic ingredients but quality, fresh, local food cooked in a way that emphasizes its natural flavor.
Except for Wolfgang Puck, who worked as proprietor-chef of Spago in West Hollywood, co-founder of fusion cuisine was Chez Panisse. Before the invention of fusion cuisine, he was already emphasizing what he called the “cuisine de marche” or food of the marketplace, characterized by devotion to only the freshest foods. Chefs were writing the nightly menu according to the finest fresh food available on markets each morning. But invention of fusion cuisine cannot be credited only to two chefs, others added numerous important details. Artistic presentation was inspired by French nouvelle cuisine and Japanese style. Seafood is a very important part of Californian fusion cuisine, in addition to herbs and fresh fruits and vegetables. Inspiration is almost exclusively found in cooking styles simply based on emphasizing natural flavors of fresh food. Some of the most important among them are certainly Mediterranean cuisine, Japanese and southeast-Asian cuisines. Characteristic cooking techniques are light cooking or grilling, treating items like fish with smoke, and especially serving raw foods like various salads or sushi.
Let’s also mention another famous Californian restaurant that served as an inspiration for fusion cuisine inventor Wolfgang Puck – a five star restaurant Imperial Dynasty located in the small town of Hanford in Californian countryside. Restaurant was opened in 1883 but became truly famous after 1958, when Richard Wing turned it into a five-star restaurant. Wing combined French and Chinese cooking styles to develop a unique style. He also claimed to be inspired with Russian, German, Italian and Swiss flavoring. Menu of Imperial Dynasty often featured dishes like poached salmon, Cornish game hen, but also Chinese fu yung eggs. After being run by the same family for four generations, restaurant was unfortunately closed in 2006 and the famous chef Richard Wing died last year.
The question arises – what can today be considered as a desirable practice in contemporary fusion cuisine? To successfully cook fusion-style one must keep in mind one basic thing; respect the natural flavor of your foods. Fusion cuisine is above all about simple reinterpretation of fresh local foods. One must never combine cooking styles with radically different approach to building a taste. It is very unlikely that you can successfully combine styles that rely on simple emphasizing of natural flavor of food with ones that rely on heavy usage of spices, sauces and complicated cooking techniques. Instead of trying to create overly extravagant meals, you should keep it simple. Complexity should arise from rich diversity of natural flavors, not from bombarding senses with spices. To succeed, you must be both playful and careful; you should start with simple tasks. Combining cuisines from neighboring regions is usually less challenging; those cuisines have probably influenced each other during history. Finding a way to combine seemingly completely distant cooking practices in a harmonious meal offers a true challenge, but also a true satisfaction.
References
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Collingham, Lizzie. (2006). Curry: A tale of cooks and conquerors. New York: Oxford
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Khokha, Sasha (2006, March 24). In rural California, an Imperial Dynasty ends. Retrieved from
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Lindsey, Robert (1985, August 18). California grows her own cuisine. The New York Times.
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