From viral birria ramen to Sushinista’s sushi burritos just across the street from Berkeley High School, the popularity of so-called “Asian fusion” food continues to rise. BHS sophomore Zara Manansala said that “Asian fusion gives the familiarity of the foods that we already know and are used to plus giving us a chance to try something new.”
Asian fusion has become a widely used term to describe cuisine that blends the culinary techniques, common ingredients, and characteristic flavors of any sort of Asian food with something else. As such, the term obscures how distinct the cuisines of each country in Asia can be. Manansala explained, “Asian fusion can mean anywhere from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, to the Russian region. Asian fusion is definitely a bit too broad of a term.”
The truth is that most Asian foods, like all foods, represent a mix of cultural influences — sometimes colonial and sometimes from neighboring countries. Chicken tikka masala, which many people believe to be a traditional Indian dish, was actually invented by a Pakistani Scottish chef in Glasgow. The dish was created when the chef had to alter his traditional chicken tikka to fit a European customer’s tastes by adding yogurt and cream. “Short eats,” snacky Sri Lankan dishes, show striking resemblances to foods from Sri Lanka’s colonizers — the Portuguese, Dutch, and British — and settlers, including Indians and Chinese. Gyoza was brought to Japan through interactions between Japanese and Chinese soldiers. Arabs most likely introduced noodle-making techniques to Italians in the ninth century. The Indian samosa originates from the medieval Persian sanbosag. For 5,000 years, rice was only grown in China and India, and now it is fundamental in many cuisines around the world.
None of these foods are typically thought of as fusion, therefore it doesn’t make sense that more recent foods that have come together by the merging of cultures should be labeled as fusion. “I mean, they’re just making food, right?” BHS sophomore Jennifer Keith Mendoza said.
However, debates about authenticity and cultural sensitivity sometimes bring so-called fusion food under fire. There are also worries that fusion food could replace traditional foods, lead to the neglect of treasured methods, and that the cultural meaning of the foods being “fused” may be lost in their combination with other dishes. Perhaps the chef’s knowledge of the cultures that contribute to a “fusion” dish can address some of these concerns. “They have to actually try to understand the culture. For example, if it was a South Asian dish, they would have to put in a good amount of the right spices," BHS sophomore Avisha Taneja said.
At its core, all food is fusion food. Cultures and their cuisines are always shifting, blending, and redefining themselves. Fusion food is just a label for the inevitable change and intersection of different cultures.