Whatever happened to fusion cuisine?

[Jenise]

For awhile, that is 10 to 20 years ago, fusion restaurants were a new fad and started popping up everywhere. Now it seems the name is rarely used, or if it is, it's a lower-case adjective. Is that because marrying the style of one cuisine to the ingredients of another is so widely accepted it's not a big deal? Is it the new normal as chefs are inspired by and borrow freely from their own blended families and the melting pot societies around them?

I'm not sure. But I know when it's not so successful, like a little French cafe I know of in White Rock, B.C. There the classically trained French chef has tried to piggyback on trends (most of which are hardly au courant) by studding his menu with odd forays into other-ness. The last time I was there, he had put fried Asian appetizers with a sweet-sour dipping sauce on his menu, the whole of which on the plate looked like it came out of a restaurant-supply kit--and probably did. Other dishes had odd Asian touches, too. My filet mignon came with an overly strong Hoisin sauce that I had to scrape off.

Perhaps what it comes to is that eclectic works, erratic doesn't. And it's not a fine line that divides them. Fried egg rolls with no reference on the plate to French technique or presentation or a signature house style have no business on the menu of a restaurant that ostensibly wants you to come for the casual French cooking. This guy thinks he can turn his restaurant into Chinois on Main (Wolfgang Puck's French-Asian fusion restaurant in Southern California, which I love) just by opening a jar. He's not fusing, he's just confused. I haven't been back to that restaurant since, though I'd previously considered it a good spot.

Anyway, all of that went through my head upon being reminded this morning of a French-Latino restaurant in New York called Itzochan. I read about it when it opened many years ago, and apparently it remains successful and popular. So just now I went to the New Yorker magazine's website to read the menu, to see for myself just what they do. And I'm impressed. In fact, I want that grilled pork chop with the negro modelo ancho chile and chayote gratin for lunch. And I'll start with the duck confit, brie and arugula quesadilla, thank you very much.

Here's a link if anyone else would like to pore over the menu, too:

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/itzocan-bistro/menus/main.html

Now THAT'S fusion worthy of the name. Old techniques, new flavors. The ingredients are authentic, every dish cross-references both origins, and apparently the food is presented with style and panache.

I'm crazy about fusion cooking. American cuisine, in which distinctive flavors from the Caribbean, Asia, Mexico, New Orleans, etc. have been added. Food like Scallop and Avocado Tostadas, Lobster Dumplings with Chile and Cilantro, Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos with Tropical Fruit Salsa, Asian Risotto with Shrimp and Smoked Chicken. All out of one of my favorite cookbooks "Fusion Food Cookbook" by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. I'm working my way through it and loving the versatility of the recipes. Bobby Flay throws out a lot of fusion, as well.

I like doing things like an Italian pasta with a Mexican salad. Or Asian food using Mexican spices. I made a Mexican Lasagna last night. The sauce was tomato sauce, with dried Chipotle peppers, chili powder, garlic, onion, forgot what else, but the flavor was excellent.

hate fusion - don't get me started

Are you a purist or dislike how some chefs do it? Get started, I'd like to hear it.

I'm crazy about fusion cooking. American cuisine, in which distinctive flavors from the Caribbean, Asia, Mexico, New Orleans, etc. have been added. Food like Scallop and Avocado Tostadas, Lobster Dumplings with Chile and Cilantro, Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos with Tropical Fruit Salsa, Asian Risotto with Shrimp and Smoked Chicken. All out of one of my favorite cookbooks "Fusion Food Cookbook" by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. I'm working my way through it and loving the versatility of the recipes. Bobby Flay throws out a lot of fusion, as well.

I like doing things like an Italian pasta with a Mexican salad. Or Asian food using Mexican spices. I made a Mexican Lasagna last night. The sauce was tomato sauce, with dried Chipotle peppers, chili powder, garlic, onion, forgot what else, but the flavor was excellent.

My wife uses Hugh Carpenter's cookbooks for numerous recipes. Teri does all the food photography for their cookbooks, Hugh is responsible for the recipes. My wife has tested recipes for numerous cookbooks that Hugh has written +editing some other things they have done. A very talented couple plus a lot of fun to be with socially. They are part of the original group for cassoulet and still attend after many years and they consider it a standing tradition.
I'ts good to have a talented wife.

I've seen it done extremely well (the French Laundry, Elephant Walk, and the East Coast Grill all come to mind) and I've seen ghastly abominations passed off as "fusion cuisine". Like any new trend that becomes a fad, it eventually gets abused.

Some of what we now consider traditional regional cuisines started out as fusions. The Mughlai, Goan, and Parsi traditions in India, for example, which overlay Mongolian, Portuguese, and Iranian, respectively, on top of the underlying Indian matrix. And there's nothing more British than murg tikka masala.

And what we think of as standard American (U.S.) fare draws influences from all over the place.

-Paul W.

Well, considering that probably the first fusion meal was served on thanksgiving day in 1620 at the Pilgrim's Progress Cafe, we've come a long way baby!
Labels come and go and it looks like 'fusion' is sinking below the horizon compared to all the fanfare it generated when it first burst on the scene and it meant that various recognizable Asian ingredients, mainly Japanese or Chinese, were mixed in with an equal number of Western ingredients with no particular regard as to whether they went together or not. And so fusion got itself a bad rep and deservedly so.
So I think that's probably correct Jenise, that 'fusion' is now an adjective with a lower case "f", and the 'cuisine' has benefited from years of experimentation, so now as much of a cuisine classification as tex-Mex or Cajun.
BTW, re the reference to the French Laundry as a fusion resto, I looked it up as I didn't think that was the case and they refer to themselves as Contempory American with french influences...well guess that is a kind of fusion.

During that short season when "fusion cuisine" was "in", I usually used that term in my reviews when I was being a bit sarcastic... the addition of terriyaki sauce to an entrecote steak, for example, was hardly a true fusion. With those chefs that indeed fused local ingredients, their cultural backgrounds and classic French cuisine, however, I avoid the use of that term, perceiving it as more a "kiss of death" than a compliment.

True fusion is alive and well today the world over - the intelligent coming together of social, ethnic, cultural culinary styles in which, for example, a chef need no longer be embarassed to use his/her Moroccan influences with a once traditional French or Italian set of dishes. Bad fusion, like bad cooking and bad cuisine, is also, sadly, alive. Sick, but alive.

Best
Rogov

I think the term "fusion" has gone out of fashion but the concept has become an inextricable part of restaurant cuisine, at least in the U.S. You can kind of eat it without even being completely aware of it... Good chefs have an imagination that can't necessarily be contained in one culture.

F

[Jenise]

I think the term "fusion" has gone out of fashion but the concept has become an inextricable part of restaurant cuisine, at least in the U.S. You can kind of eat it without even being completely aware of it... Good chefs have an imagination that can't necessarily be contained in one culture.

F

You said it best, and that's precisely the conclusion I reached too. In fact, outside of what we happily brand as ethnic restaurants, the better restaurants anymore that stay rigidly true to one style are rare and often subject to terms like 'quaint'.

Well, considering that probably the first fusion meal was served on thanksgiving day in 1620 at the Pilgrim's Progress Cafe...

I think it goes back long before that.

Everything is fusion. There's no such thing as cultural purity. People have always had mixed influences and ingredients (i.e. the old standard examples of tomatoes in Europe and chilis in India).

[Jenise]

Well, considering that probably the first fusion meal was served on thanksgiving day in 1620 at the Pilgrim's Progress Cafe...

I think it goes back long before that.

Everything is fusion. There's no such thing as cultural purity. People have always had mixed influences and ingredients (i.e. the old standard examples of tomatoes in Europe and chilis in India).

Well, of course that's true. But the use of the name in restaurant parlance is another matter, and that's what I was asking about.

IMO fusion seems to work best where there is a good understanding of both cuisines (or indeed more if the mix is greater). So we have great Indian / uk fusion here, but less impressive are other asian combinations - whereas these work great in Australia, where there is more Korean, Thai, Malaysian etc. food.

Thus a good french chef wishing to 'go fusion' may have poor understanding of the other cuisine and hence it's not fusion, but more like someone trying something beyond their current skill set. That same French chef, working for 2-3 years in Hong Kong, might be more impressive in their attempts at fusion cuisine.

regards

Ian

Everything is fusion. There's no such thing as cultural purity...

Well, of course that's true. But the use of the name in restaurant parlance is another matter...

Maybe. I think it all depends on who is applying the labels. Two chefs could have the same menu but one would call it fusion while the other would not and the label fusion would say more about how self-conscious the chef was then it would about the food.

Still, I understand what you were getting after and I think the lack of discussion about 'fusion' food is evidence of the increasing sophistication and understanding about food.