Food + Culture
In my many years as a professional chef and as an avid foodie I've come across a variety of cuisines that I deeply appreciate and enjoy. For my own personal knowledge, as well as for my clients, I seek out new and interesting flavors and cuisines. In certain instances I make interpretations of these dishes unique to my own sensibilities. This could mean something as simple as taking the spices of one dish and re-appropriating them to a non-traditional protein or vegetable.
Recently I've been watching the Netflix series Ugly Delicious and I found it quite interesting. There was one statement/theme that I kept pondering. In a few episodes of the series the host, David Chang, visits the idea of what it means to cook outside of one's own cultural tradition. In an episode on Fried Chicken Chang discusses with the proprietors of Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish-- Dollye Graham-Matthews(an African American woman)--and Hattie B's Hot Chicken--Nick Bishop (a white man)--race and cultural appropriation in the kitchen. Chang later mentions that it upsets him when non-Koreans enter the Korean culinary tradition/market because they haven't faced the struggles of being Korean-American.
As a Japanese American Chef I have struggled with the biases of people assuming that I am trained in and specialize in Asian cuisine. I was trained in the French culinary tradition and primarily worked in European cuisine. Early on in my career I was explaining to someone that I was a Sous Chef at Spago in Beverly Hills and they immediately replied "oh Sushi Chef?". I had to explain that Sous Chef came from the French and meant "under".
After more than 20 years as a Chef I have recently been developing my skills in the art of Asian cuisine and enjoy it and have some expertise in it. However, my feeling is that knowledge, respect of the tradition, and the ingredients is what is important and makes one 'belong' to a culinary tradition. To be of one heritage or another of course may give you special insights or respect but it is not exclusive or closed to others coming in, learning, and even playing with and creating new dishes based on those traditions.
I hope that by opening up different culinary traditions it does not push people out especially minorities who are often discriminated against. It's a social justice issue that I take seriously. But my feeling is that the more people who come into a tradition with respect the greater understanding and appreciation we can all have for each other.
