Con-fusion

 

I watched a documentary recently about Italian food.  In it, one commentator said, “There is no such thing as bad food, only badly prepared food.” The idea was that any food made with fresh ingredients, and prepared with care, and a little thought is going to be “good.”

Enter the world of fusion food.  Italian food, in a sense is fusion food, it is a blend of tastes and ingredients which were once regional food.  Some of these have melded and adapted within Italy, and others when regional ideas came together in the Americas.

Fusions have taken place in other cuisines as well. Chopped Suey is one such dish.  Its origins are debated.  Some say it was the melding of traditional Chinese cooking techniques to the taste and ingredients of America, others claim it originated in certain provinces of China, then evolved when new ingredients were available in America.  In either case it is a fusion of East and West.

Some fusions just work, others leave us unconvinced. The jury is out on pineapple on pizza for instance.  I personally find it okay, but don’t rush out for it. Others rave about its wonderful taste especially when paired with ham, and others hold that it “is just wrong.”

One of these questionable fusions is Tuna Salad (American usage) or Tuna Mayonnaise (British usage).  In my American experience it is served with canned tuna, diced onion, pickles, often with celery, and occasionally with hard boiled egg; all mixed with mayo.  In England it is tuna and mayo, and often mixed with canned sweet corn. Yes, in America the home of maize, corn is “weird” with your tuna, and in Britain, corn is the way to go. Go figure.

See, fusions foster con-fusions.  The secret again is in the comment in the opening paragraph. Good food is what ever food YOU like. I experiment a lot with ingredients. There are many winners, and some really big losers (I attempted some mint flavoured, butter based fat bombs – in short it was a fail in the way I tried it.  More on that in another post). The bottom line on fusions then is this, mix and match to please you and those you cook for.  If it is soy sauce infused ice cream -great, and if not great also.

Let your palate be your guide.

Padre