How a new cuisine is born

How is a new cuisine created? Ruth Alexander explores two unique cuisines in South Africa and the USA: ‘Cape-Malay’- a 300-year old tradition born out of colonialism and slavery that unites Indonesian and Dutch tastes; and ‘Viet-Cajun’ - a more recent phenomenon that has seen the Vietnamese diaspora experimenting with Cajun flavours in Texas. We explore how history’s darkest episodes can lead to some of the most captivating flavour combinations and ask why some people will cringe at the term ‘fusion food’.

(Picture: Pot lid being opened. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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Contributors:

Cass Abrahams: Chef and Author, Cape Town, South Africa Mai Pham: Food writer, Houston, USA