Fusion Illusion?

Is it just me or has the term “fusion” in culinary circles become outdated over the past decade or so? I have no hardcore data to back this up. Just a sense of a term that has become passe.

And I get it. Fusion is a term along that slippery slope of cultural identity. When does a culturally-distinct dish become a creative blend become a twist become a melange become cultural appropriation become a confusing mess?

Let’s set the philosophizing and word-parsing aside for the moment. My vegan son was coming to dinner the next day. He loves middle-eastern cuisine. He sorta likes southern cuisine. And he definitely likes spicy. And I was getting tired, as he too was getting tired without telling me, of the standard tofu-based vegan dishes I prepared for him on a regular basis. Something a bit different was needed.

LIke a classic southern red kidney bean and rice dish. Only the beans would be mixed with a spicy muhammara concoction. And the rice would be a parboiled Iranian rice, steamed rather than water-saturated. Garnished with cilantro and toasted pistachios, which by the way, is something you see in both southern and middle-eastern cooking. The dish was a hit.

And so back to the philosophizing for a moment. You can definitely taste the distinctive southerness of the kidney beans, slow-cooked over many hours with celery, onion, and bell pepper. And you can definitely get the distinctiveness of the muhammara, with its roasted peppers and tomatoes mixed in this case with pomegranate seeds. And the crunchiness of the pistachios is kindof a wake-up to pay attention to what’s going on. Both cultures — southern and middle-eastern — at play here. Both holding true to their respective roots. Each complementing the other. Fusion? Twist? Melange? Who the fuck cares? I’m no linguist, just a cook trying to turn out good stuff.