For some reason this makes me think about going to indian restaurants with my dad. He always said we were ordering the equivalent of a peannut butter and mustard sandwich. Though in this case the 'fusion' is done by the dumb customers and not the chef...

I've never cared for fusion. I'm more of a traditionalist.

Oh, crud. It's too late to fix the PANTRY.

LOL, me too on the simple.

I obviously approached this issue wrong. I wasn't really looking for commentaries on fusion, but on when things go way wrong.

Like deep fried sushi!

You really had my mind reeling there, plllog! I live in a place where fusion hasn't reached us yet... so I have never tried.

Like everything else, there are good fusions, and there are confusion fusions.

I saw J. Pepin made a traditional France recipe and he added a few teaspoons of soy sauce.

Avocado in sushi. There had never been avocado grown in Japan.

dcarch

IC, come to California. :) We're the land of Fusion. There are over 200 languages spoken, at least half from foreign shores, and most of which have their cuisines represented somewhere or other around here. With variations in produce available, it's inevitable that much of the ethnic food has been adapted and changed. Since restaurants are an easy toehold for immigrants with shaky knowledge of English (easy to get into--very hard work once you're there), there's also adaptation to the local tastes. The Korean taco is an L.A. favorite, but there are as many different kinds of fusion as there are mixed-cultural marriages as Mom and Pop make dishes that please the whole family. Some are more like shotgun weddings, but most settle into a unique expression that can be more interesting and tasty than its disparate components.

Dcarch, agreed that California roll is very popular, at least in California, but it's pretty darned yummy. Can't say the same thing for the fried oshizushi. It wasn't foul, but not nearly as delicious as it would have been au naturel. The fish lost all flavor in the frying, and the generous amount of wasabi also went flat, leaving an overall chewy texture with little flavor and a slightly fishy aftertaste. Since I can eat fish in sushi (if it's as fresh as it should be) but cooking can bring out what I'm allergic to, I just had the one, and maybe there's someone who does it better and makes it something wonderful. I'm not convinced.

I do not like fusion for the sake of fusion, but I do not like traditional for the sake of tradition either - it either tastes good to me or it does not, and fusion or tradition has nothing to do with it. I guess I am just not very sentimental about it. Mexican food is a fusion of Spanish and Native Mexican styles, and I do feel drawn to traditional Yucatecan style food, but that has recently also been influenced by the Lebanese population there. Eating a dish with the traditional Mayan achiote paste will instantly take me back to Mérida and the Yucatan.

One of my favorite fusion cuisines in Algerian, which combines French and Arabic - bland French sauces seem to complement the spiciness of Arabic dishes, and so for me they combine well. I'm not sure where the line between traditional and fusion is drawn, since traditions have to start somewhere, and they probably started as some sort of fusion, unless there is only one main ingredient, which does not allow for much variety. I do like a lot of foods simply prepared, without salt or pepper. I like a lot of vegetables to be very plain, but that it really not traditional. I think I have more exposure and experience with fusion than I do with traditional, and so fusion seems more normal or comfortable to me. One of my favorite restaurants is Paiche (in Marina Del Rey), which is a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese - a very good combination in the way they used it.

Lars

Fusion can produce some wonderful results, whether it is simple influence or bold intermingling. Peru has a large Japanese immigrant population and the influence is felt in the food (e.g., Lomo Saltado). I agree in California we liberally bend the rules and blend the cultures, and sometimes with not so good results. I don't like the fully deep fried sushi, but California chefs have created rolls that are very tasty and would never be found in a real Japanese restaurant. Likewise, I love some certain Contonese-European hybrid dishes (aka Chinese American cuisine). Fails for me include Kim-Chi quesadillas, although I like the bulgogi tacos. I once had a terrific mexican italian hybrid dish (spaghetti in a tomatillo based sauce with roasted chicken) that I've been trying to recreate ever since I had it (the restaurant closed down -- mexi italian hybrid was a tough sell).

Deep fried sushi?

That's too funny.

What won't they deep fry next?

This will be showing up at the State Fair soon.

Momj47, that's exactly what I was thinking! Though the fried candy bar (the UK Mars Bar which is different from the No.Am. one) came to fame in Scotland, of all places.

I'm sure the oshizushi would have been better left alone...

Lars expressed my feelings about fusion perfectly. :)

It's funny - I always associate fusion cooking with Australia rather than the U.S.nytimes For me, it needs an Asian influence. But, because I've never eaten it I have NO idea LOL It's just what I've gathered.

I never thought of addding a little soy to a dressing as fusion....... there's nothing modern with using an ingredient from another country and we nevver called that fusion. For me, fusion cooking isn't a random accident but a thought-out creation. No?

Originally "fusion" was a chefy word for melding two cuisines (yes, more than a little soy sauce). I believe the first famous one was French and Chinese, certainly the first I remember being called Fusion. And, yes, well thought out. The newer, famous Korean tacos were created by a fine chef as well. He was trying to make a living by doing street food during a time when people weren't dining out.

Nowadays, the word extends to cover all kinds of mom and pop outfits, holes in the wall and food trucks, which serve food, rather than cuisine, at the lowest price levels, and often comes more from the disparate backgrounds of the partners than any well considered creation. The most outlandish I've heard of is a truck in San Francisco which gets mixed reviews. It's Irish-Eritrean. I don't know how well fused it is, though, or if it's just a confused menu including some of each.

The word seemed to work, however, in describing the "crispy" sushi, because I had the same reaction as Momj47. On the fair circuit here, every year there's a new deep fried "delicacy" that's all the rage. For decades, there were corn dogs (hotdogs pierced longways with a stick, dipped in cornmeal batter, and deep fried), funnel cakes (thick pancake batter poured as a looping snake from a funnel into hot oil), and fritters, besides the staples of fried chicken, fish and seafood. Then there was the news of the batter fried Mars Bar from Scotland, and the deep fried Milky Way bar became the darling of the fairs. That held steady for awhile, expanding to other candy bars, then funnel cakes, which were there all along, though perhaps regionally, became a big deal nationally. Soon after that, the annual quest for the next big batter fried atrocity was on. The fried Twinkie (a-bomb proof, industrially baked, sponge cake snack filled with white fluff).

Y'know, I used to laugh at the French who were protesting McDonald's because most places there aren't enough tourists to support one, so it must have been the French eating there that was keeping the doors open. The surest way to make a business close is through lack of patronage, not generating free publicity. Still, even if France has its Big Mac adherents, I can't imagine most Frenchmen actually eating deep fried avocados. Or oreos. Or ... butter. Biscuits (scones to you, IC). And cheesecake. Yes, it's possible--deep fried beer. I don't count the fried Coke, because, unlike the beer (which is the filling in ravioli and supposedly squirts when bitten), fried coke is a batter made with Coke then fried and topped with Coke syrup. There are LOTS of weird things that are put in batters, but fried batter is normal. The butter melts and turns the coating batter into a buttery pastry (so I'm told), but it goes into the fryer as a stick of butter with batter on it, not as a batter ingredient. Basically, just about anything you can buy at a convenience store has been fried at a fair. :)

So, to me, deep fried sushi (no batter--I'm guessing a dusting of rice flour) is a fusion between American state fairs and Japanese delicacies. A mismatch on the surface, and rightly so. Not awful, but not the best of either.

Doesn't dcarch have 'fusioneer' tattooed on his forehead? lol.

I think of fusion as a 90's thing to be avoided, especially when the word is included in the restaurant name... : ) Now it just seems commonplace to use what you have on hand and what you like and what is seasonal. Substituting this and that throughout the seasons. Restaurants seem to be doing that in NYC these days. I do hear 'hybrid' on occasion. Also strange, but the terms do bring up a visual i suppose.

I've had a few meals out and have trouble even choosing with such a descriptive menu of confusing combinations.

I guess i'm just an ol' heirloom like my grandmother. Seldom using recipes, but love reading them for ideas and using fresh seasonal produce.

A recent memorable taco from KimcheTaco truck, a vegan ice cream from another truck...cacao nib sprinkles, lol. Very good.

I'll take your advice an avoid fried sushi. Does seem state fair ish.

The fried sushi I've had has been put in a traditional tempura batter and fried. Like a makisushi roll with tuna inside..... unfortunately the frying cooks the fish and destroys the reason we are having sushi in the first place (if I wanted fish and chips, I'd order it).

Love me some fried avocado. Just had it last week on a food truck sandwich with chicken, bacon and fried avocado. Yum.