When international cuisines are tweaked to suit the Indian palate, one sees puritans cry hoarse. But when something as basic as idli is presented in a new avatar, the drools and hoots just don’t stop. So, while a dish of oily, spicy Chinese noodles is looked down upon, a plate of idli Manchuria or idli 65 is treated as winner. Is that wrong? “Why should it be? There is a saying, dress for others, but eat for yourself. So, as long as I am not forced to eat food of somebody else’s choice, I wouldn’t care. But at the same time when an international cuisine is presented with an Indian touch ‘officially’ I wouldn’t mind taking a bite, just to see what I prefer more,” says Neidhi Kumar, a blogger.
So when Neidhi was offered sambar risotto and tandoori pork ribs , she was more than happy to try. “Food is all about innovation, the more innovative it is, the more pleasing it gets,” she adds.
Is that the reason why American burger and pizza chains gave us paneer/chicken tikka pizza or an aloo tikki burger ? “It is more like not depriving anyone. Palates are different, while some love to experiment, others stay loyal to their most trusted flavours and tastes. Travel opens the horizon to a variety of dishes, but it’s not easy to make everyone adapt to varied tastes. While spicy, oily Chinese noodles may be looked down upon, curry powder pasta is polished off. A lot also depends on clarity. If a menu specifies a dish then there are less chances of rubbing the customer the wrong way. My menu has some fusion dishes and patrons love it. To begin with, we serve the Nannari, an international drink made from Sarsaparilla root, but we have tweaked it by combining it with a natural Indian flavour,” says Vijay Amritraj who gave Hyderabad the colourful Madras Café & Co.
Vijay adds, “Food formats are also changing. Food shows, experimenting with food and ingredients are all opening up new flavours. Exposure is ample but the openness to give up a trusted flavour isn’t too common. That makes the hotelier and chef brainstorm to constantly innovate. Hence we have a Madras Sangkaya, filter coffee mousse and few others.”
Fusing flavours isn’t just an Indian festish. Zeenab Aneez, a student in Warwick in UK says, “I was pretty delighted seeing Wraphic-The Indian burrito here. They serve burrito with madras mutton curry/ chicken tikka etc.” However, there is also a clear division of opinions when it comes to branding Indian food as spicy. Chef Paul Noronha of ITC Kakatiya calls this branding a pre-conceived notion; fusion isn’t just about cooking, but begins from the step of marinating to plating it. He says, “A rogan josh now looks different now from how it used to; it comes pre-plated whereas it used to be served in a bowl. The art of presentation also plays an important role. Use of ingredients, the style of cooking, everything is included when it comes to fusion food. We now use dill leaves in our fish, use salmon for tikka; so we have come a long way in experimenting and presenting fusion foods.”
Chef Michael Swamy who wears many hats as a food critic, writer, host and a traveller besides others, agrees with Paul and adds, “Techniques are important; wrong techniques can land the food in the wrong place and I would prefer fusion subtly. Indian food in itself is a result of fusion, so fusing it further should be mild. I prefer my marinates to have the magic of fusion and instead of downing the meats in spices I would rather use one to increase the desirability of the dish.”
According to him moderation is the key and overdoing anything will only confuse the fusion eater.
