Akankshya Mukherjee (intern@imaws.org)
Fusion cuisine is a cuisine that combines ingredients from different culinary traditions of other countries, regions, or cultures. Chefs often create fusion dishes. Fusion cuisine also includes foods that are based on one culture but prepared with ingredients and flavours from another culture.
N S Krishnamoorthi, founded a small and very popular and highly rated Traditional Healthy food restaurant ‘Prems Graama Bhojanam’, Chennai and has worked for 34 years and is a passionate chef; cooking for more than 50 years says “As people get exposed to more cuisines, as the international travel increases and as affordability and availability increase people will try cooking different dishes. Once familiarized they would try and cook as per their style and liking. That’s where fusion food will increase. In my opinion, all QSR foods are fusion foods only, these happen when a new dish is introduced, it is innovated in its variant and it helps in standardizing the process and making it easy and comfortable. Those who are knowledgeable, and who are open to trying new things will try whatever is acceptable to their palates will be approved, remember Chicken Tikka Masala. Depending on the availability of ingredients, depending on familiarity, similarity to their cuisine and promotion by QSR and top-end restaurants the fusion food will take off. Remember the success of Indo-Chinese food. The next will be Pan Asian and Mexican”.
The mash-up is largely responsible for the rise in popularity of cuisine fusion and globalization. It is also gaining popularity since it allows chefs to produce something distinct from their competition, a meal they can truly call their own.
Chef Palvinder Singh, Executive Sous Chef working at Radisson Blu Resort says “The concept of fusion food is always welcomed by chefs as well as the guests or clients because anything new and peppy always gains attraction and becomes acceptable. Fusion food brings a type of peppiness, a simple reason is that they fuse one flavour with another, mingling two varieties of flavour or more in a cuisine. This adds to attracting something new for the customers, and tasting most singular cuisines is very common. So, experimenting with different condiments and food results in new. So, for Indian platters, Chinese and Indian food is already a fusion now commonly it is known as Indo-Chinese food in most places.
However, now for chefs, the blending of Chinese food and American food will take some time because as chefs we are still trying our blend Indian food with different flavours. Making Chinese food with American taste would have some difficulty, it might work in either China or America, but Chinese flavour mingling with American flavour will take some time to be brought into the Indian Market to try out but if it is then it has experimented the food falls are always a concern. As to most customers today, Indo-Chinese is mainly preferred, however, the hotel industry, in general, may also not completely agree to this”.
Mash-ups combine existing meals that are already popular to produce an unexpected marriage of flavours. Fancy snacks are unquestionably popular with the Gen Z generation, those born after 1995, who are more inclined to snap them first and then taste them. They are also more likely to share them on Instagram before they even take a bite. This can work in your favour if you can get mash-ups on your menu and market them.
Ms Haritha Krishna, a woman entrepreneur in the international trade, food and hospitality industry, has opened a commercial kitchen and restaurant with shared accommodation says
“We need to understand market dynamics of food post-pandemic. A very traditional, conservative, cost-conscious customer has hurt the industry and several hundred shut down of various sizes and forms.
According to her, IT industry is most with Gen Z and millennial crowd conscious about spend and unwilling to stretch their purse strings beyond 300. “With inflation and high food prices, the volume is not happening and so high-salary cooks and chefs are not affordable and the industry just does not have resources. Fusion food has a better market in the North and Western region and here down south Hyderabad and Bangalore only has that elite crowd who spend on food.”, she says.
International Travelers and inland hospitality are also the least and even healthcare travel is also barest minimal.
As we know, international trade has to deal with spices and food with global clients across continents we do know that quality, accreditation and certification costs and pricing on such foods for import is just beyond the imagination of Chennai foodie. Even with the plastic ban and eco-friendly packages in place even delivery and logistics had become costlier”.
Essentially, this catch-all term refers to combining materials from many cultures and combining recipes. This method of combining culinary forces provides truly original flavour combinations and menu items that customers cannot discover anywhere else.
Lawrence Amalraj, Executive Chef at Kaldan Samudhra Palace says “Fusion in food is kindly blending a few known cuisines into a recipe. This process brings in lots of joy and happiness by creating multiple taste bursts in a bite.”, he says further adding “This stands outs from the traditional way of cooking and presentations. But consistency and correct proportions is the key to success in developing and delivering fusions cuisine. Fusion cuisine is a kind of tragedy where it brings in creativity with a different dimension and revolving and evolving one, with no stoppage to it.”
Some of my few interesting Fusion food and recipes are –Dal Khichdi aranchini with curry ragu, Podi-dusted rice dumplings, Chettinadu Gnocchi and Meatball skewer”.
If not handled properly, fusion food can be a little too intense or complex for the palette. When too many ingredients, flavours, or culinary styles are combined, the result is weird and nasty rather than unique and delightful.
Wayne Clark, Sous Chef at The Park, Chennai says “When you talk about fusion food. It is something that has been around for quite a while now. It is a concept that will never get old. It has become quite common nowadays.
The culinary world is ever-evolving and with the ease of access to knowledge and produce, chefs and cooks are using their creativity daily to create newer dining experiences by blending aspects of two or more cuisines to create the WOW effect.
Innovation is the centre point of focus which keeps us chefs coming up with new dining experiences which have elements of either fusing cooking techniques or ingredients etc. to make it anything but ordinary which happens to be our brand promise.
When you talk about customer response to new dishes, I would say if it tastes great and looks beautiful, why would they not accept it? A lot of R&D goes behind every dish making sure that it suits the people’s palette. For example, we have done something called samosa cones with elements of a samosa but with a different look. Vietnamese goi cuon which is a cold dish but coupled with tamarind we served it similar to how changing is served”.
Traditional spices and fresh ingredients combined with new additions can result in some extremely wonderful recipes. The taste experience is the key reason why so many people come to Asian fusion restaurants and hawker stalls.
Md. Shahbaz, Demi Chef De Partie at Hyatt Regency, Chennai believes that “Fusion food a different cuisine, different cultures ingredients bringing one place and creating a recipe it’s good for us because it connected people. The combination of traditional spices and fresh ingredients with new elements can result in some incredibly tasty dishes. The taste experience is the primary reason why so many people are flocking to restaurants and hawker stalls that serve Asian fusion dishes.
If the food is good guests like but now the trend is Mediterranean food because people won’t be healthy so they prefer this food. Chinese also popular but nowadays people want to be healthy, so they prefer to consume lite food”.
THIS ARTICLE IS POWERED BY
