Due to its association with at-times lazy appropriation of non-Western ingredients by Western chefs, “fusion food” had fallen out of favour in recent years, but today we’re witnessing more confident forms of culinary blending. “Chefs are trying to get a deeper understanding of different cultures through food,” says La Liste’s New Talent of the Year 2024, Vanika Choudhary – who reimagines Indian cooking with indigenous ingredients and a globally oriented outlook on fermentation, borrowing techniques from South Korea and beyond.
Fusion has always been a naturally occurring process in cosmopolitan cities but even there it is moving in new ways. Nikkei cuisine in Peru, for example, was first conceived as a blending of Japanese cuisine and Peruvian ingredients – as promoted by Mitsuharu Tsumura, chef/owner of Maido. Peru’s biodiversity, combined with the effects of immigration is what “makes Peruvian cuisine unique,” he says. Nikkei is an evolving process and has become a Peruvian cuisine buttressed by Japanese techniques. With Tsumara’s plans to bring in flavours and techniques from China and Southeast Asia, Maido offers a poignant example of this new pattern, also seen at Gaggan in Bangkok, through its progressive Indian cuisine enhanced by French, Thai and Japanese influences.
Where to try
Maido Ca. San Martín No. 399, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Gaggan 68/1 Soi Langsuan, Khwaeng Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330, Thailand
