…and that’s the way it SHOULD BE. Karon Liu’s article in the Toronto Star about how he (and not just professional chefs) cooks more fusion-y, acknowledging both his ancestral culture (Chinese/Hong Kong) and the country where he was raised (Canada) by making dishes spaghetti with chili crisp, gai lan, browned butter and miso. Sounds like some of my dishes, which often include, say, tofu, pasta, greens and cheese (oat pasta with tofu, lentils and cottage cheese is a weekly thing for me. Yum!).
However, this is NOT what diversity activists seem to want us to think. If you watch any TV show attempting to be more “diverse,” they often emphasize ONLY the old culture, that of their parents, and do not even WANT to mention that the children (even adult children) may think differently, do things their own way that acknowledges both their ancestral heritage(s) and that of the country they were born/raised in. The so-called DE&I “leadership” will never admit that this happens. In fact, they’ll likely just say that we’re too “colonized” and need to be “reprogrammed.” Okay, maybe not the latter term, but you know what I mean. Do they realize how INSULTING this is? Racist, even? I mean, what’s WRONG with them? If you want diversity and inclusion, you HAVE to note that this happens. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that they do. I’ve been personally insulted ENOUGH by these groups. And it’s sad, because I have a lot to offer them. Don’t they want to hear about different experiences?
Anyway, enough on the diversity rant. You hear/read enough of it from me, both on this site and on my podcast (haha). What I want to say is that this way of cooking is by no means about people turning their backs onto their culture nor is it diluting their ancestry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It IS, in fact, emphasizing one’s culture. No matter what you do, you have to admit that the chef’s culture isn’t ONLY that of their parents, but also the culture they grew up in. So if your parents came from Korea and you were born and raised in, say, Manhattan and you own a bagel shop, why NOT have kimchi flavoured cream cheese as an option (well, once the apparent shortage is no longer an issue)? Or, I don’t know, one of my Christmas Day traditions where I use Hong Kong style coconut pull-apart bread for French toast. It shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think it’s pretty cool!
Some of these dishes actually come from our own childhoods. We wanted so-called “Canadian” foods, but our parents wanted to make food from their homelands. Most of us end up eating both. Some of us had nice parents/grandparents who made fusion dishes at home, and sometimes for us to take to school. For example (and I probably mentioned this in a Cynthia Talks Life episode), (leftover) soy sauce roast chicken sandwiches for me. The whole idea of stinky “immigrant kid” lunches is a foreign concept for me. And I really think there are more people like me. But then again, it might just be the circle I grew up with. I don’t think any of us had that so-called “typical narrative” that so many in the diversity space want to emphasize.
We talk about fusion cuisine all the time. It’s usually something “elevated,” so why not start calling it something else? Like, oh, I don’t know, CANADIAN (or American/British/Australian/wherever you’re from) food? That said, I can’t wait to try dishes like, steamed pumpkin pie dumplings, apple pie stuffed naan, linguini tossed with char siu and choy sum (even though this is kind of boring-sounding) and the like. Grilled cheese with Peking duck sounds pretty interesting too. And isn’t this so-called NEW cuisine really part of what diversity/inclusion is all about anyway? If you don’t agree, then it’s kind of sad. Culture is meant to evolve, after all. If it isn’t supposed to, then wouldn’t everyone still be eating whatever people in their ancestral heritage ate thousands of years ago? Heck, I don’t even KNOW what people from the area of China my ancestors are from ate 4,000 years ago (and which part? It’s a big country. Most of my family is from the southeastern area (I think), but some are from the north) unless I went to a food museum and they had some sort of exhibit. This kind of fusion only enhances things and makes things more interesting.
NOTE: I realize I talked about this on an episode of Cynthia Talks Life in October. I just wanted to re-emphasize this issue now that REAL MEDIA has acknowledged it!!!
