Hi alexanderas,
You might feel very differently about cultural fusion if you had been living in my part of SOCAL and experienced home cooking as well as restaurant cooking over the last ten or so years.
and, of course, experienced the corresponding changes in the different Asian countries over the same time period.
Thai is a great example–and I got to see the back and forth changes on both sides of the Pacific. Very interesting.
Ray
I feel fine about cultural fusion - and I am in no way denying it’s existence. I am just amused by how you manage to weave it into everything, Ray. Hence my little joke about the electric knife being cultural fusion too. Take it as a lighthearted jest 
From today’s BuzzFeed um, feed (that’s a fortuitous circumstance) via Apple News:
“`Chefs Are Sharing Red Flags That Say “This Restaurant Is Low Quality” And It’s Useful And Horrifying
`
I understand. I think that is why I don’t understand. If I call a kitchen knife as “this is a piece of cultural fusion”, then I am very possibility doing a passive aggression condescending remark.
Oh yes. Forget about even cross country fusion. If I really like try Ramen, then I go to a Ramen specialized restaurant. If I really like good sushi, then I go to one that focus on it. If a Japanese restaurant that has a wide range of Japanese foods: sushi, ramen, yakiro, oden,… then I don’t have a lot of faith.
Hi Chem,
Real cultural fusion usually happens very slowly–and sneaks up on you.
You seldom get to see it in someone’s home—and you probably wouldn’t notice even if it were there.
I’ve posted a thread for examples:
Why wouldn’t you see it in someone’s home?
Seems like that’s exactly where we’d see it.
I mean, my mother’s name was Juanita and she was Irish and English.
My dad was from Texas, my stepfather was born in Scotland.
I absorbed everything from all of them.
Isn’t that the story of America?
Ah, they need something from you. Hopefully they understand what they’re getting from you in cooking and culinaria.
Unbelievable.
Hi bbqboy,
My Austrian wife loved to marinade store bought rabbit–and I loved the results: way better than treating it like chicken the way I did before. Made some for my cousin–said it seemed unusually fresh and juicy: must have killed it a few hours ago. . .
Look at the thread I posted for restaurant examples.
Ray
Ray
Hi Kaleo,
My favorite recent example was when my home town pasty place for the first time offered a “pizza” pasty.
I couldn’t believe it. Took almost 50 years to happen . . .
Ray
Um…
Okay.
My ex was born in Tampa, raised in Omaha.
We lived in Scottsdale and Ashland.
No rabbit.
But lots of delicious Jewish delicacies that I learned to make.
Here are my analogies, and I hope you understand my view.
Q: What are the reasons for Julie Child being so successful and influential?
A: Because she was able to breath oxygen
Q: What is the first thing a restaurant need to do to prepare its grand opening?
A: Staffs need to breath oxygen
Q: How to debone a chicken?
A: You need to breath oxygen.
It isn’t cultural fusion does not exist, but it does not need to be overly contributed to everything. I am sure you can contribute breathing into every single posts too.
Maybe, Chem, maybe not. It’s been so much a part of my life that cultural fusion is almost always on my mind.
What Kai did in creating Shun clearly was an intended Japanese American fusion that I have been following ever since: I don’t make these things up as you’re implying.
We even teach these things to business students at the graduate level.
Ray
A purple cow and a pizza pasty are two things I hope never to encounter, while I love pasties, even my irreverent homemade attempts.
Hi Pilgrim,
I regret that I can’t get rutabaga in my pasties here in California. On the other hand, I love the chicken curry Cornish pasties I get at Lucky Baldwins. I’m adjusting . . .
Ray
I do understand what you are saying, Ray. All subjects are approachable through single avenues, and you have formed your cultural relationship through cutlery, namely Kai’s Shun. One could approach through a food or a religion or a craft or… Your study has followed an interesting and unusual path. And I can see how it could be incorporated into the case study method used in business schools.
I always include rutabaga in my pasties! A travesty without. What recipe are you using?
Hi pilgrim,
I’ve never made pasties. My cousin always tempts me with her mothers prize recipe if I come to visit in Michigan. . .
I do keep a supply of frozen ones in the fridge–beef.
Ray
Listen up to your cousin and go for it! They’re really quite simple to make, and you’ll get that “swede”: kick.
These channeling those served at a Montana Woolworth’s lunch counter in mid-Century. Many Cornish in the local copper mines. Husband says they’re pretty close.
What’s always surprised me is that the beef skirt (sorry, don’t know US name) used cooks fine in the hour or so bake time, but used in a stew it needs at least twice as long.
BTW, serving them with gravy would spark a lively discussion in Cornwall, and serving them with those onions would spark a fight!
