From single food to combos; from fusion to confusion cuisine; from mash-ups like the Cronut, a cross between the coconut and croissant, making it the hottest seller in 2013, to potatoes with turmeric fermented bok choy starring in 2016 — a lot has been happening to the good old palette. SHAlINI SAKSENA explores how the culinary space is undergoing a sea change

Food, trends and culinary space has always been news. This is because humans, starting from a humble beginning of eating just one type of food to a combination of foods, have been powering the great culinary evolution with their creativity.

The Global Culinary Exchange organised by Indian Federation of Culinary Associations (IFCA) recently served as a platform to discuss new perspectives and trends in the culinary space. The conference was a feeding ground for Indian chefs to gather nectar from outstanding global resources and indulge in cross-pollination to widen their culinary skills and capabilities. The speakers deliberated on a wide spectrum of topics including fusion cuisine and where Indian food stands globally.

Chef Manjit Singh Gill, president of IFCA tells you that while Indian cuisine’s popularity globally is still at a nascent stage, it will definitely be a chartbuster in the next five years. “The good thing is that Indian cuisine is receiving global acceptance and chefs from India are in demand. Hence, there is need for them to master Indian cuisines and make a mark for themselves in the culinary landscape,” Gill explains.

He attributes this acceptance of Indian cuisine to globalisation. “Today, people from India are travelling to other countries and we have a lot of foreigners who are coming to India. Our spices have always been in the news from the time trade started. People were already aware of items like black pepper, coriander seeds, fenugreek etc. They were using them in certain foods back home. When they came here, they saw the different ways these spices were being used and how each dish was cooked with different spices changing its flavour and taste. This is what makes our food so popular,” Gill says.

But it was probably the upward movement of fusion cuisine that really changed the way people were cooking food and wanting to try other cuisines. Though, it is not known how and when this movement began but Wolfgang Puck is often credited with this new writing when it comes to food history. As the name suggests, fusion food is the blending of culinary worlds to create new, hybrid dishes. Though fusion cuisine has been around for over 200 years, the idea has gained popularity in the last decade or so worldwide. This acceptance is more commonly seen in metros where people are open to trying new things.

Chef John Sloane, vice-president, World Chefs Association, highlights the deep and multi-level connection between the two individuals separated by societal compulsions, space and other factors and yet have substantial impact on our choice of cuisine in a chosen geographical space.

“First, where we will live has a great impact on the kind of foods we eat. Second, we have to take into account what we are used to eating. To eat foods that are different in taste, one need to have not just an open mind but also accept that it is food that is eaten in certain parts of the world and appreciate it,” Sloane, vice-president of F&B Operations and Culinary at Galaxy Macau, explains.

But he is quick to point out that not all ingredients can be mixed with all spices in order to come up with a winner. Giving an example of strawberries and cream, he tells you that it is important to know which foods will go with which and what spices, otherwise one will end up with a dish that is a disaster. “For this, there is need to keep experimenting behind the scenes and tasting what works with which dish. Only once you have a winner should you introduce that dish into the market,” the chef who loves Kerala food tells you.

One of the most popular and widely combined foods are European and Asian. This, according to chefs, stems from the fact that the culinary characteristics of these cultures combines centuries of cooking traditions in the hands of experts. But probably a more common path used by chefs is combining cuisines from two Asian countries. This is because while cultures and cooking techniques may be different, the spices and seasoning are common. Pan-Asian cuisine is a classic example of this. People trying these dishes tend to be more open and it is easier to pull off.

“In the midst of all the changes that are happening in the culinary space, Indian food has managed to make a place for itself. There are several reasons for this. First, the different use of spices to cook different dishes, Second, the need to eat a well-balanced nutritive food. Indian food is considered to be wholesome and tasty. Take the global popularity of chicken tikka masala. It was a dish created for the western palate. It was not spicy yet it encompassed all the ingredients and spices that were Indian. It was a taste of India, in a foreign land.

“Back home in India, people were aghast at this innovation. It was supposed to be a simple chicken tikka. Die-hard fans of tandoori food could not digest this fusion. One ate the tikka and if required, one ordered an additional curry dish to eat withnaan or tandoori roti,” Chef Sanjay Thomas, director, Food and Beverages at The Suryaa, tells you.

When it comes to fusion cuisine, people are more open to trying different dishes as long as it is not one’s own cuisine. “Take the pizzas that are being served in restaurants all over India. While it is okay to put any topping, the pizza in itself is supposed to be snack rather than a full meal. Another classic example would be the Chinese that is being served in our country. If one were to eat the real Chinese food, most people would find it difficult to put it in their mouth. Indians are used to eating spicy food, anything bland doesn’t sit with them well. So, while asking for a chilly sauce or flakes will not even raise an eyebrow here, in Italy asking for chillies with pasta or requesting the chef to spice it up would be sacrilege,” Thomas points out.

Though Indians would love to savour a peppery paneer or  barbeque pizza for a break, it would definitely not be fine if our everyday food was tweaked. “If we are used to eating dal with a certain kind of tadka and if we changed that, it would be immediately rejected. We may eat it at that time, but to eat it every day would be a strict no-no. Even within the country, with so many diverse cultures, eating habits vary vastly. While eating dosa, idli, etc as lunch or dinner is acceptable in the north, in the south it is breakfast. A decade back if one wanted to eat this, it would only be available in the morning. In Delhi, samosa and jalebi are available in the evenings. In Uttar Pradesh, it is considered breakfast. While people in Gujarat put a little sweet in almost every dish, elsewhere it is unacceptable.

“And it all stems from what kind of food we eat at home and how our mothers cooked it. It is a taste that remains with us for life. We may try different dishes but we always want to come back to eating what is familiar to us. For Indians, dal, sabzi, roti, dahi, etc is home food. Anything related to home is comforting. It is a place where one can be himself, no pretences. It is a place where one unwinds after a day’s work. One looks for familiarity,” Thomas opines.

Therefore, there are many people who prefer to call it as confusion cuisine instead of fusion cuisine because these haters opine that chefs are more interested in coming up with novelty dishes rather than concentrating on the flavour and taste.

According to these experts, good fusion cuisine combines ingredients and cooking techniques from several cultures in a way that puts together a dish that is well crafted to create a dish that is seamless and fresh. Fusing different cuisines together can be really successful and exciting, but so much can go wrong if one gets it wrong. So while for some the term fusion cheapens what chefs do, there are others who believe that there is nothing inherently wrong in a taco with a filling of kimchi, hot sauce and barbeque chicken.

This is because they see a lot of goodness in this contemporary culinary space and it is part of cross-cultural pairing and layering and multilateral experimentation of different food elements.

According to Chef Kunal Kapur, fusion cuisine is a great way to popularise a certain kind of cuisine. “There was a time when cooking Indian food was considered to be extremely time consuming and a tedious process. But many chefs fused it with their own foods and made it popular. Curry and rice is an extremely popular dish the world over. The curry may not be cooked in the way it is made in our homes, but at least people are familiar with the cuisine. When they travel to India, they want to try other foods as well. This is a good trend. There was a time when lentils were only eaten in Asia, particularly India. Today, people use it in soups and to make curries. While this may appear to be strange to people who have more traditional eating habits, from the cuisine point of view, it is all about accepting the goodness of Indian food,” Kapur says.

So, despite the resistance from some quarters, fusion cuisine is as popular as ever and has endeared itself with the younger audience that is, perhaps, more knowledgeable about it due to social media and the Internet. They are more curious about different foods and cultures, therefore, willing to try the mash-ups.

Ingredients like soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic salt and oregano have become staple household ingredients. Food trucks, though not a culture that has hit the Indian market the way it has the West, is also fast adapting the fusion and crafting daring and bold dishes. With the fusion trend showing no signs of abating, Indian cuisine is all set to ride the next big wave in the food history.

How It All Began

• 1850: The first Cantonese restaurant opened in San Francisco, USA. Though there is no record of the name of the restaurant, one theory goes that it was probably run from a home with a small staff
• 1884: Nippon Rioriya became the first Japanese restaurant to open in london, UK. Its founder, Matsusawa, brought with him Japanese chefs, chopsticks and introduced other small things that were used back home. What made this establishment different were the aromatic flavours which were completely different from what the people in london were used to eating daily
• 1885: In the US, things were no different. louis Sherry’s Mikado took New Yorkers by storm. All things Japanese came into vogue. Sherry became so popular that he was sometimes asked to cater to exclusive post-theatre parties.
• 1959: lai-iad Chittivej set up Chada Thai, the first known record of a Thai food establishment in Denver, USA
• 1961: It is said that an establishment serving Vietnamese food opened at Amsterdam Avenue. A restaurant review in New York Times, August 15, 1961 by Craig Claiborne said: “When it is a question of restaurants, New York could be called an international festival. The most recent establishment to join the roster of oriental dining rooms is the Viet Nam. It is a small, poorly air-conditioned, unpretentious place with an interesting cuisine modestly priced. It is reputedly the only Vietnamese restaurant in America.”
• 1983: Wolfgang Puck opened Chinois in Santa Monica, California. It served a taste of Asian fusion
• 1987: The first Peruvian-Japanese restaurant opened in Beverly Hills by Nobuyuki Nobu Matsuhisa — a celebrity chef and restaurateur known for his fusion cuisine blending. His miso-marinated black cod become the talk of the town
• 1989: Chef Norman Van Aken, who has been described as legendary, visionary and a trailblazer as well as the culinary Titan of Florida, is sometimes also referred to as the founding father of New World Cuisine. He is also known internationally for introducing the concept of fusion to the culinary world
• 1992: The Cheesecake Factory, US starts making chicken chipotle pasta and other American fusion foods in the market. Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened Vong in Manhattan with a menu of French-Thai fusion
• 1994: In the Fusion Food Cook-Book, Hugh Carpenter tells the readers to try spicy south-western fried chicken with ginger-apricot sauce, and watermelon salad with raspberry Cabernet vinaigrette
• 2001: Albert Sonnenfeld, co-author of Food: A Culinary History, said that fusion often combines too many things
• leading to confusion as far as ingredients and flavours are concerned
• 2009: After 17 years, Vong closed. Chef David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, said he made peace with the term fusion
• 2010: In an interview, Chef Danny Bowien said that his restaurant Mission Chinese will not be some weird Mexican-Chinese fusion taco truck. He calls it Americanised Oriental food. In 2013, he opened Manhattan’s Mission Cantina