The New Gastronome
Pan-Asianism
by Israel Sher
by Israel Sher
Zapping through online music channels with thousands of playlists, I randomly tuned into one called ‘world music’. Interestingly, unlike other music genres that fervently tend to remark upon the smallest music nuances, I found world music to be as diverse as its nominal playlist counterpart, comprising an endless array of music styles from various cultures. Under this tube, one can listen to Chinese guzheng, Indian raga, Tibetan chants and the Cameroonian music of West African tribes, among thousands of other traditional folk tunes of the world. Intriguingly, the eclectic music category (simply meaning “music of the world”) also turned out to be disconnected from any reference to Western society, because it specifically groups everything that is not Western music or, as music theorist David Byrne puts it: “everything that isn’t “us”, rather “them.”1
Concerning this, ethnomusicologists argue that during the last hundred years, the most significant phenomenon in the global history of music has been the intensive imposition of Western music and musical thought upon the rest of the world.2 Under this process, world music was constructed as a broad category which encompasses certain styles with non-Western elements.3 Simultaneously, Western music developed in stark opposition and became well-branched and subcategorized (rock music, for instance, holds more than 250 sub-genres), a notion that exemplifies a cultural relationship between the Western and the non-Western worlds and also stands for the generalization of “other” civilizations by the Global North.
Respecting this idea, cross-cultural studies demonstrate that the construction of transnational identity influences national, economic and cultural relations between East and West. Among these, there are other characteristics that may be affected. From a gastronomic perspective, for instance, transnational identity enables the dilution of world food cultures (i.e. cuisines). One example is the idea of ‘pan-Asianism’—an ideology that emerged during the last quarter of the 19th century as an alternative vision of the world order that had been shaped by the intellectual justifications for late 19th-century imperialism.4 Similar to world music, pan-Asianism can also be accused of generalizing food and cuisines, by creating non-rational cultural hybrids. As for both cases, the creation of transnational identity seems to force similar cultural assimilations.
A. D V. E. R. T. I. S. I. N. G
“A Taste of Asia”
With the same indifference, we tend to tune in to the world music channel, we might also consider “Asia is one”.5 But, considering the idea that people probably understand not all Asian cultures share the same culinary characteristics, the representation of Asian food in the West still remains blurred. Asian grocery stores, for example, located mainly in Western cities, tend to offer foodstuffs from all over the Asian continent without classifying them by country of origin. The same phenomenon takes place in the “Asian aisles” of supermarkets, where you can find all sorts of Asian condiments in the same corridor. Inadequately, the only common denominator for both of these cases is a poor commixture, caused by the way the West envisions Asian cultures and, thus, responsible for creating a false image by giving only a consolidated “taste of Asia.”
Sadly, the most significant structuring of this idea occurs in pan-Asian restaurants. A type of restaurant that usually offers broad menus where people can eat a variety of Asian dishes from diverse nationalities under the same rooftop. Such restaurants are likely to offer Pad Thai alongside Vietnamese phở soup, Indian curries and sometimes even Japanese sushi. In their most positive versions, some of them will maintain the purity of the original recipes, but for the most part, these eateries tend to travel between the ingredients, ending up with strange food crossbreed.
“In their most positive versions, some of them will maintain the purity of the original recipes, but for the most part, these eateries tend to travel between the ingredients, ending up with strange food crossbreed.”
However, due to convenience or other reasons, people accept and enjoy these assortment menus, so why am I complaining? For the same exact reason that David Byrne is: the West’s representation of Asian food not only presents a misleading image of “Asian food”, but more severely dilutes the diversity of Asian communities and cuisines within Western people’s minds.
A Sense of Orientalism
Cultural flattening can also be examined under alternative cultural disciplines aside from music or gastronomy. Illustrations of Asian people from the 19th century demonstrate Europeans’ failure to understand the diversity of Asia by falsely presenting it as one solid civilization. This is most noticeable through the rise and popularity of Chinoiserie art.6 This type of aesthetic appeared in the 17th century and was popularized in the 18th century due to the rise in trade with China and East Asia.7 Another example is the discipline of ‘Asian Studies’, in which “the Western knowledge of the eastern world” served as the primary means for Europeans to come into contact with worlds and cultures they had never encountered before. These factors shaped the way Westerners today think and picture the Orient.8 Following this logic, it could be argued that Europe continues to apply a narrow viewpoint to this complex and dynamic region by referring to Asia as a geographic and cultural monolith.9
Since ancient times, Western scholars and writers have imposed a concept of ‘Asia’ upon the whole area, despite the heterogeneity of its geography, history and culture.10 The terms ‘Asia’, ‘Asiatic’ and ‘Oriental’ were often used in a pejorative way. The supposed decadence of the ‘East’ was used to highlight the vitality of the ‘West’. It could also help to justify the expansion of European imperialism in Asia.11 In his book Orientalism12, Edward Said argues that “the sphere of influence of this particular movement allowed for the oriental fantasy to be treated as a true representation of what constituted the Orient.” Said claims that this “oriental discourse” still influences the way modern Europe perceives and treats its Oriental counterpart.
In the same manner, the hegemony of Western food falsifies Asian cultures, it does so for Asian cuisines. Considering that food is a significant characteristic of Asian—or any other—culture, places it under the same discourse. The wrong image that is constructed by pan-Asian restaurants and large food chains only gives a taste of Asian food, causing a lamination and a false perception of what Asian food is all about: its diversity. The pan-Asian cuisine remains only a misconception in the Western cultural system, a fabricated structure of something European society couldn’t otherwise handle. Pan-Asian food not only misrepresents “Asian food,” but it also doesn’t support other important perspectives such as cultural differentiation, food heritages and human diversity of Asian communities.
Not Fusion
Pan-Asian food might be best described by what it is not. It is not Chinese, nor is it Indian. It did not develop based upon any specific cuisine. In most cases, it often offers national or stereotypical dishes from various countries. Furthermore, pan-Asian restaurant menus usually don’t serve food from the Central Asian continent. Rather, they usually have dishes from all across the South and Southeast Asian cuisines only.
One way to grasp the irrationality of pan-Asian food is linguistical—by trying to project the use of this term on Western cuisines. Brief observation demonstrates that such conceptualization does not even exist in Western food culture. More careful literature reviews haven’t exposed any “pan-European” restaurants that concocted a menu offering an assortment of European food. This, then, raises the question: is there even such a thing as pan-European food? And if there is, what would such restaurants offer in their menus?
“That is to say, that in order to maintain human diversity, people need to acknowledge the uniqueness and particularity of each and every society—or, at the very least, do so when going out for dinner.”
Another way of facing pan-Asianism in restaurant menus is to observe the difference between pan-Asian restaurants and ones that offer Asian-fusion food. Whereas the first coarsely encapsulates all Asian food that is considered ethnic and foreign, the second consists of dishes that infuse the elements of different culinary traditions, condiments or cooking techniques and are meant to recreate dishes that are assembled of different food cultures, for the sake of experiment and creativity.13 Different from the “pan” generalizing perspective of Asian cuisines, Asian-fusion is established under different conditions and promotes other aspects of dining such as novelty and amalgamation.
Other cases indicate that Asian—or all other types of—fusion cuisines are usually an inherent result of different types of assimilation- colonialism, migration and globalization. Excluding the hyper-globalization of the 21st century, the consolidation of different food cultures of the world tends to develop somehow more organically. One of many examples is Indo-Chinese cuisine which developed by the ethnic Chinese community of Kolkata. More non-Asian cases are Creole cuisine, which emerged under the melting pot in colonial Louisiana, combining the food of West African, French and Spanish cultures; Korean-Mexican cuisine, which rose under the multiculturalism of Los Angeles in the 1990s; or Lebanese migrants in Mexico that created their own subcuisine, by mixing their traditional techniques with the local foodstuffs. None of the above has forced together a blend of barely connected dishes from different cultures and merged them into one trivial menu.
Therefore, when considering Asian food, it must be recognized that the Asian continent is about 29.5% of landmass on the planet, comprising 48 countries and thousands of cultures and unique food heritages. That is to say, that in order to maintain human diversity, people need to acknowledge the uniqueness and particularity of each and every society—or, at the very least, do so when going out for dinner. Whether the discussion deals with restaurant menus or music playlists, gastronomy must tread carefully and recognize cultural differences. Only that will deconstruct the phenomena that tie both world music and pan-Asianism: a cultural flattening that may lead people to a cultural misconception.
Footnotes:
[1] Byrne, David, Crossing Music’s Borders: ‘I Hate World Music’. (The New York Times, October 3. 1999). Accessed August 12, 2020
[2] Nettl, Bruno. The Western Impact on World Music. (New York: Schirmer. 1985), 3.
[3] Rahkonen, Carl. What is World Music?, World Music in Music Libraries. (Technical Report No. 24. Canton, MA: Music Library Association. December 1994).
[4] Aydin, Cemil. The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia: Visions of World Order in pan-Islamic and pan-Asian Thought.( New York: Columbia University Press. 2007). Accessed August 12, 2020
[5] Okakura, Kakuzō. The Ideals of the East with Special Reference to the Art of Japan. (London: J. Murray. 1903), 1.
[6] Chinoiserie art- The European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music.
[7] Beevers, David. Chinese Whispers: Chinoiserie in Britain, 1650–1930. (Brighton: Royal Pavilion & Museums. 2009). p. 19
[8] Donzé–Magnier, Mahault. Edward Saïd: Orientalism. (Netherlands: Maastricht University. 2017).
[9] Milner, Anthony. Johnson, Deborah. The Idea of Asia. (Australia: Australian National University. 2002). Accessed August 12, 2020
[10] Embree, Ainslie T. Encyclopedia of Asian History. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1988) Vol.1.
[11] Milner, Anthony. Johnson, Deborah. The Idea of Asia. (Australia: Australian National University. 2002). Accessed August 12, 2020
[12] Said, Edward W. Orientalism. (New York: pantheon Books. 1978).
[13] Rahkonen, Carl. What is World Music?, World Music in Music Libraries. (Technical Report No. 24. Canton, MA: Music Library Association. December 1994).
