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As with all things, food is constantly evolving. What began as a means of survival, foraged from the land or hunted with bare hands, gradually evolved into a sophisticated language. Today, food no longer reflects the culture of a single country and has become a complex hybrid of style and expression. Japanese has been fused with Korean and Italian with Greek. 

The fusion phenomenon has its roots in the 1970’s with the rapid rise in contemporary restaurants. Each looking for an edge to offer their customers, French chefs began to borrow from their old colonial partners and served up an amalgamation of French and Asian cuisine. This experimentation spread like wildfire through major European cities where celebrated chefs, eager to appease their punters, began experimenting. Today, a fusion restaurant has become the hallmark of a flourishing metropolis, borne proudly like the subway or a Starbucks café.

Why has this need to expand our food circles into the realm of the exotic developed? In large cities that are filled to the brim with divergent customs, this new way of cooking has become a means of demonstrating that its hotpot of cultures can truly coexist. Another reason can perhaps be traced to globalization. With the travel boom that characterized the development of contemporary society in the past 30 years, gourmet cross-pollination became inevitable. Now, globalization comes to you on a plate–the beef hails from the UK, the ginger from India and the ravioli from Italy.

Whilst some raise their eyebrows at nouvelle cuisine, and others argue that all food is fusion food from a time when explorers would bring back edible delights from foreign countries, what remains certain is that food is ultimately an art. For that reason alone, culinary experimentation should forever be allowed to reign free.

Top Global Fusion Food Restaurants

Izakaya Den, Denver, Colorado

Nu-Cube Fusion Restaurant, Milan

Ze Kitchen Galerie, Paris

Tetsuya’s Restaurant, Sydney