Fusion food has a long and noble history. Today's bold experiment is
tomorrow's classic dish, says Peter Gordon.

Fusion food: a style of cooking which is increasingly popular in
Britain but, it seems, also increasingly controversial. Some people
seem to think that ingredients from different world cuisines should
never meet on the same plate.

The term 'fusion' originated in the US, as did the earlier term
'Pacific Rim'. In 1996, we had the pleasure of winning two
restaurant awards at The Sugar Club: the Time Out award for Best Modern
British Restaurant, and the London Evening Standard Eros award for our
Pacific Rim cuisine (which still forms the basis of our cooking today).
This was a little confusing for customers, until they realised that in
many ways, Modern British or European, and Pacific Rim or fusion are
one and the same.

Fusion is a term which simply implies the fusion of several cuisines in
one dish. While Pacific Rim cooking may conjure up images of palm trees
and warm waters, I and many other chefs across the country busily scour
North Africa for couscous, the Mediterranean for olives and the West
Indies for plantain - ingredients not normally associated with the
Pacific.

Restaurant reviewers who criticise fusion cooking for taking
ingredients from many countries and 'fusing' them on one plate
might have marvelled at, say, a wonderful Italian dish of braised
aubergines and potatoes served with guinea fowl. Well, as any gardener
knows, aubergines originally came from China, potatoes from South
America, and guinea fowl from Guinea, west Africa. Indeed, in their
time, the aubergine and the potato were themselves regarded as exotic.
Fusion food of a different sort.

No cuisine today can be classified, understood or ultimately
appreciated by looking at borders on a modern map. Italian, Spanish and
French cuisines would not be what they are today if explorers had not
liked the strange foodstuffs they brought back from their voyages of
discovery. The fact that potato, tomato, orange, lemon, aubergine and
rice all thrive in the European climate has meant that they have become
part of our food culture over the centuries. If the mango or kaffir
lime tree had been able to grow here, I'm sure the 18th-century
cookery writer Brillat-Savarin would have come up with a recipe for
them as well.

Fusion at its best allows ingredients from all over the globe to be
marinated, cooked and served together in harmony on the same plate. The
secret behind it is the successful combination of the familiar with
newer, less well-known ingredients. Puréed green chillis and coriander
can be stirred into a simple chicken stew at the last moment. Lemon
grass or lemon myrtle can replace lemon zest in a seafood risotto.
Coconut milk can be used to make a baked custard, replacing some of the
cream, altering the taste and texture delightfully.

Diners' tastes and expectations are changing rapidly. Cheap air
travel means that more people are travelling to exotic parts of the
world where they can experience the 'global store cupboard' for
themselves. They enjoy experiencing these flavours again when they
return to home shores.

It is a shame that critics are so divided over fusion food, and sad,
too, that some arrive at the table armed with prejudices against
anything innovative and popular. Why can't they simply relax and
accept that if something makes you excited, be it galangal or coq au
vin, then it is worthy of praise? No one is denying that classic dishes
with traditional ingredients are fully deserving of the plaudits they
receive, but no matter how brilliant and respected classical cuisine
might be, cooking is a living art which changes and develops, as do the
people who are eating and preparing it. Enjoy it. Fusion food tastes
good.

Regards,
Joe Graely

http://www.mealmaster.net