Fusion Cuisines like every other cultural exchange has a history behind them. We’ve put together 10 fusion cuisines from different continents, some as old as two millennia and others as recent as the 21st century.
1. Louisiana-Creole Cuisine
Jambalaya
Louisiana Creole Cuisine blends West African, French, Spanish, Native American, and general Southern American cuisines. It is a fusion of cuisines that uses the French cooking style of ingredients and spices from other cultures to create explosions of taste buds. The Creole Cuisine predates the sale of Louisiana to the United States in 1803. The cuisine revolves around the influence of the Louisiana population in that period–Acadians, Germans, Caribbeans, native-born slaves of African descent, and those of mixed racial ancestry.
Enjoy a piece of the world with meals like the Jambalaya, Chicken Creole, Gumbo, smothered green pies with sausages and potatoes, and smothered pork chops.
2. Chifa Cuisine
Lomo Saltado
If you love South American and Asian cuisine, you might just be in for a tasty treat with Chifa cuisine–a blend of Peruvian and Cantonese (Chinese) cuisines. The blend is influenced by the 19th and 20th-century Chinese immigrants in Peru who used Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients with local Peruvian ingredients and flavours. It became prominent, developed by the chefs of Chinese restaurants in Peru in the 1920s.
The Chinese Peruvian culinary tradition is based on Cantonese elements fused with traditional Peruvian ingredients and traditions. Meals like Lomo Saltado (Stir-fried marinated sirloin strips with onions, tomatoes and peppers served with french fries and rice.), Sopa wantan, and Pollo Tipa Kay are very popular in Chifa restaurants.
3. Anglo-Indian Cuisine
Kedgeree
Anglo-Indian Cuisine dates back to 1600 when the British East India Company first arrived in India. The cuisine fusion incorporates British ingredients and cooking techniques with Indian spices and flavours. Meals like Kedgeree (breakfast dish of rice, lentils, hard-boiled eggs, and spices) and Mulligatawny soup (creamy soup with meat, vegetables, and spices) created in 1790 and 1791respectively, are still favourites in the Anglo-Indian Cuisine menu.
The British public enjoyed Anglo-Indian cuisines when Hindoostane Coffee House, the first Indian restaurant in Great Britain opened its doors to the public in 1810. Take a moment to enjoy this 200-year-old cuisine fusion between European and Asian economic powerhouses.
4. Korean-Mexican Fusion
Bulgogi Burritos
This Korean-Mexican type of cuisine fusion originated in Los Angeles, United States of America in the 1990s. The earliest restaurant, 2424 Pico, to serve a Korean-Mexican fusion, Korean Tacos, was traced to at least 1996 in Santa Monica, California. The fusion combines the American style of both Mexican and Korean foods, with earlier dishes featuring Tex-Mex dishes (tacos and burritos) mixed with Korean Barbecue to create Korean Tacos and Bulgogi Burritos.
Korean-Mexican fusion serving restaurants now exist in Seoul, South Korea and Beijing, China. The fusion remains a causal dining meal, food trucks and street food inside the USA.
5. Indian-Chinese Cuisine
Chicken Manchurian
The Indian Chinese or Sino-Indian fusion is said to have dated back to the British East Indian Company rule of India in 1757-1858. Chinese immigrants moved to India, especially its Northern part, Calcutta (now Kolkata) for the opportunities the British Raj India had to offer. The fusion combines traditional Chinese cooking techniques and food with traditional Indian flavours and spices.
The Sino-Indian fusion is now a mainstream cuisine in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, with substantial diffusion in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Caribbean. Dishes like Chow Mein, Chicken Manchurian, and Chilli Paneer will change your views and appreciation of Chinese, Indian, and Asian food.
6. Hawaiian Fusion
Manapua
Hawaiian cuisine is one of the oldest and still evolving cuisines in the world. The fusion began as far back as 300-500 AD when the first Polynesian seafarers first arrived on the island of Hawaii. Ever since the Hawaiian fusion has continued to evolve as it represents the different ethnicities that have lived on the island as immigrant workers and colonisers for more than a generation. It is a fusion of Native Hawaiian, American, Chinese, Philippino, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese cuisines.
Engage your taste buds with cooking techniques from 2 millennia ago with dishes like Chicken Long Rice, Musubi, and Manapua at a Hawaiian restaurant near you today.
7. Italian-American Fusion
Spinach Risotto
The Italian-American fusion has been shaped for more than 2 centuries by the different waves of Italian immigrants and their Italian-American descendants. This fusion has gone from being migrants' favourite to townspeople’s favourite dishes, and over the years, it has become an American favourite. Dishes like pizza, meatballs, and pasta have become popular in countries outside the United States of America and Italy.
The Italian-American cuisine is influenced by Northern and Southern Italian migrants in various parts of the United States of America. Southern Italians prefer dry pasta, olive oil, and tomato sauce, while risotto, polenta and white sauce are staples of Northern Italians.
8. California Cuisine
California Style Pizza
California cuisine blends the French, American, Italian, Mexica, Chinese, and Japanese cuisines with a touch of fresh, seasonal ingredients in the local neighbourhood. The cuisine is chef-driven, as Alice Waters made it popular by opening the Chez Panisse restaurant in 1971 in Berkley, California. This restaurant and many others were built using the 1952 Helen Brown’s Westcoast Cookbook as its menu. California Cuisine is termed as a food movement as it is still evolving to date.
Dishes like California Pizza (Pizza with Asian toppings), Sushi Burrito, and pasta with unexpected ingredients, depending on the neighbourhood and ethnicity of the restaurant in California.
9. Nikkei Cuisine
Yucamochi
The Nikkei Cuisine is a fusion that combines elements of Japanese and Peruvian cuisines. Nikkei is the term used to describe immigrants of Japanese origin in Peru. The Japanese and Peruvian first contact dates back to the end of the 19th century, and it wasn’t a peaceful exchange until the 1873 Peace Treaty that later led to the mass Japanese migration of 1885 and the establishment of the Japanese Minning Company in 1889 in Peru.
This fusion was officially recognised in 1980. A classic fusion is Yucamochi, a fusion of Cassava and Rice Cakes.
10. Tex-Mex Fusion
Pork Chili con carne
Tex-Mex cuisine is a fusion of Texas and Mexican cuisines developed by the Tejano people–Texans of Spanish Creole origin). This fusion is now a regional American cuisine, now classed as a subtype of Southwestern cuisine, and surpassed Italian-American cuisine in popularity in 2023. Dishes like Chili con carne and Fajita bowl are very common in this fusion’s menu.
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