COLUMNNEXT GEN Born and
raised in Beijing, Shirley
Chung is a two-time
Top Chef finalist. Photo
courtesy of Albert Law.Oliver Wang is a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach and
co-hosts the music appreciation podcast, “Heat Rocks.”
A common thread that emerged during the dinner conversation was
that good fusion “just makes sense,” which is to say: they don’t feel
contrived, and the ingredients fit together logically based on flavors,
textures, traditions, etc. All three of us thought of the same example of
fusion-that-works: Roy Choi’s Kogi taco, which combines marinated
galbi and chili-soy slaw within a griddled corn tortilla. As intentionally
cross-cultural the dish is, when you bite into it, everything feels and
tastes harmonious. The first time I tried it I found myself unintentionally
nodding, as if to say, “yeah, this is exactly right.”
In contrast, my curiosity took me to Chung’s Ms. Chi Cafe to try that
vaunted Cheeseburger Potsticker. Alas, instead of nods, the dish got
head shakes from most at our table. The filling, which a friend described
as a “greasy, bland meatball,” lacked the juicy richness of a good cheese-
burger. As a dumpling, it was both too big to eat without a knife and the
skin was too thick. The cheese crisp on top was more decorative than deli-
cious, but we liked the accompanying bacon tomato jam (because, well,
bacon). Unlike other dishes in Chung’s book, this one didn’t make sense
to us.
Ironically, or maybe appropriately, the morning of the fusion cook-
off, my wife, Sharon, was raiding the fridge to find stuff for breakfast.
She found some leftover rice, but not enough to make a meal. Then I
remembered I had made a pot of classic turkey stuffing a few nights
before—Sharon loves Thanksgiving food—which was more than enough
to combine with the rice. So, we figured, “Why not?” The resulting fried
rice/stuffing worked surprisingly well, and it didn’t escape me that we
had stumbled across an example of fusion cooking by happy accident.
Similar dishes get created every day in countless kitchens. Love it or hate
it, the act of fusion is still at the heart of how we cook; it always has been.
Fusion is dead, long live fusion! CM