WHAT ABOUT "FUSION CUISINE"

Many people, friends and colleagues are aware that I will come out with a Trilogy book that features the Culinary Fusion between Italy and some a 120 countries of this gorgeous world. Most of them asked me if I am not afraid of the controversy of that this will create; and honestly I have to admit that I am not afraid of it, as I believe that even our great millenarian cuisine has come to the point of needing a twist.

Psychologists would agree that mentally healthy people have good “boundaries.” Unlike the tangible perimeters of the physical realm, psychological boundaries are the lines that demarcate your emotional world from others.

They also signify the limits of certain interpersonal behaviors. You could probably stroll into a co-worker’s office who you’re friendly with, take a seat uninvited and blurt out things you wouldn't confess normally to others. But you couldn’t do that with impunity in your boss’s office.

In all walks of life people occasionally cross boundaries. Sometimes this is a good thing but some times it’s not. Boundaries are there for a reason. It is the intuitive and prudent individual who knows when it is fortuitous to breach certain boundaries and when it isn’t.

Boundaries certainly exist in the culinary arena. But on a larger scale, there are boundaries between different cuisines and/or techniques. It is here that a brave few have ventured into the murky waters of culinary synthesis, otherwise known as “fusion” cuisine.

Fusion cuisine began in the 1970’s, spearheaded by such culinary icons as Wolfgang Puck.

Puck laid the groundwork for one of the most commonly fused pairings: European and Asian cuisine. Traditionally trained in Europe but equally well versed in Asian cooking, Puck’s launching ground was the apropos California, situated midway between Europe and Asia.

Over the ensuing decades “east meets west” eateries began emerging throughout the country, most notably in urban areas where the cultural melting pot was more amenable to culinary integration.

Eurasian cuisine blends ingredients and/or techniques from the two cultures. For example, a spinach salad (Mediterranean) may be paired with tempura battered scallops, (Japanese).

Chinese pot stickers could be filled with traditional European ingredients. Risotto may be infused with wasabi. Poached tofu is an example of the intermingling of technique and ingredient. Here the French method of poaching is combined with an Asian victual.

A less discrepant form of fusion cuisine is when two types of Asian cooking are combined such as Thai and Vietnamese or Thai and Malaysian. Here the orchestration of ingredients and techniques is less challenging, but still challenging. Proponents of fusion cooking espouse the bounty of creative opportunities and new taste sensations that it affords.

Dissidents of fusion cuisine call it “confusion” cuisine. The point being, that all too often chefs combine ingredients that have no business being together. The result is a gustatory nightmare.

Other than a lack of culinary dexterity, “confusion” cuisine occurs when chefs try too hard to develop something innovative touching the classics. Let’s face it; all the classics have been done to death, that's why in my book I will never touch Italian classics. You will not see on my books a Lasagne alla Bolognese, but definitely Lasagnettes as a technique of cooking or a presentation style. You will not see an Ossobuco alla Milanese from Veal shank, but most probably a fish Ossobuco, again as a technique of preparation, but with fish or of other animal origin that will still provide me with the Bone Marrow to obtain an equally qualitative culinary result, with another twist.

Nowadays a crucial means for a chef to make his mark on the culinary world is to go where no chef has gone before. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s into a black hole; when done without careful analysis and in depth knowledge of both cultures when mixed.

You need to have mastered first the classic dishes and techniques of both and each lands in order to be able to pair them at some point with your own twist and additional knowledge of alternative products and other ingredients coming into play, as a part of your touch and contribution to the new dish.

Determining which ingredients can commingle propitiously is a daunting task. There’s a tremendous degree of subjectivity, namely the great variability of human taste. While I would find a particular dish to be abhorrent, another person may proclaim it to be extraordinary.

The trick of course, is uncovering those elusive and unheard of combinations that naturally resonate with most palates despite the few inevitable dissenters. Talented chefs can sometimes find the best of both worlds.

The antithesis to fusion cuisine is to create dishes, indeed entire meals, from ingredients indigenous to a specific culinary region. The theorem is that foods, (and wines for that matter), grown together in the same micro-climate, share a natural affinity for one another.

Chefs who are true to their cultural roots believe that fusion cooking diminishes the integrity of both cuisines. More scathing criticisms attack it as an attempt to obfuscate a lack of culinary talent and/or an attempt to jump on the latest food craze at the expense of culinary propriety.

I strongly and respectfully disagree!! as I believe that leaving comfort zone and adventuring yourself "Not into the unknown" but on the journey of combining the known and well learned to create the new era of culinary globalization and bringing the beauties of a inter-cultural enrichment is a must and requires a lot of talent as well as traveling and sacrifices in between.

Let's not diminish this point of view. I am of the thinking that "A chef brings more benefit and joy into the world when creating a new dish to please the senses; rather than an astronomer when discovering a new star on a far away galaxy".

But that's just my opinion an a couple of other million people too, of course.

If you’ve never tried fusion cooking I strongly recommend you do your homework before you do. Seek out a place with a good reputation. Whether you condone fusion cuisine or not, the fact of the matter is that it can be a culinary discovery and a cultural enlightenment.

Feel free to comment and give your thoughts. They will be appreciated and respected.

Remember...cuisine like most things are a very personal choice and every opinion comes from a very personal view. There's no wrongs or rights here.

With my warmest culinary regards.
E.Chef. Gianfranco Chiarini.