What is authentic, anyways?

January 11th, 2008

In class the other day, we were discussing fusion cuisine and what makes it fusion-y. The obvious answer is combining ingredients and techniques from two different ethnic cuisines to form a new one. But after some discussion, I realized it is not that simple. Fusion cuisine happens in many different ways, and it doesn’t have to be restricted to combining ethnic cuisines. It could be as simple as combining fast food with fine dining, as the restaurant Dine does in Chicago. It could be combining different ingredients, like when Domino’s in Australia recently came out with their meat pie pizza (I told you those Aussies love their pies!). Or McDonald’s in Asian countries…they have a rice paddy burger that is basically a beef burger on a bun made of rice paddies. It could even be combining environments, like McDonald?s does in other countries. In America, McDonald’s has plastic, hard seats and tables that tell you eat and get out! In Asian countries, they tend to be more comfortable and even include private dining rooms so entire families can meet up and eat together, a custom that is important to them. One of the important topics we covered in my class last semester was how every cultures cuisine has been infiltrated by other cultures, making it very difficult to ascertain which countries can claim certain food traditions are solely theirs. Like the tandoor oven in India. Every Indian restaurant I have ever visited in the States boasts a tandoor oven and specialties like tandoori chicken and naan bread that are made in the oven. It is safe to say that Indian food and the tandoor oven are pretty synonymous. But in reality, it was not created in India, it was brought down by Middle Eastern cultures that invaded Northern India and brought their cuisine with them. In places like Iran, the tandoor was an oven built underground for insulation that used to make breads and other foods. In India, it morphed into an above ground oven that is safe to use indoors, and dishes like tandoori chicken were created, which is dyed bright red and cooked by the oven?s residual heat after bread making is finished. Before Iran brought it to India, well, it could have come from anywhere! I know the ancient Egyptians had an underground oven way back when, so you see where this concept could take you. This shows how fusions of two cuisines (in this case, Persian(Iranian) and Indian) can happen over a long period of time. Look at the traditional red sauce used in Italian cooking. Tomatoes originated in Central America, not Italy, and tomato sauce traditionally had onions and chiles in it. I am not sure exactly when it came over to Italy, but someone had to bring it there and say, hey, I bet if we put some garlic and basil in this stuff, it would taste pretty good over noodles. And pasta didn’t even originate in Italy, yet it is synonymous with it today! Craziness! The whole world is one big melting pot, and we didn’t even know it! So it makes you wonder… what is authentic cuisine, anyways? I don?t have the answer yet, but I just wanted to share with you some of the things I have been learning that really make me love this whole school thing. I’s getting edumakated! ~LTG

This entry is filed under Gastro Fridays, The Gastronomical Leena.
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