Chef Tom – Food Fusion and The Silk Road Ensemble

Not to be confused with CON-fusion. Some ultra-PC folks wax expert about cultural appropriation. Well, the one place where that construct has no business being, is in the kitchen. Every dish you cook has had multiple influences from multiple cultures. Even if I were relegated to only cooking white boy food from Northern California (eeew), there would be zero recipes that I could cook that hadn’t originated from someplace OTHER than my own neighborhood. Even my own neighborhood evolved from countless cultures other than my own.

Fusion is the result of natural evolution, IMHO. The world is one big magical soup. The parable of Stone Soup makes my point. Without the generous influence from the other cultures around us, life would be unbearably dull. 

Chef Tom Herndon – Barcelona: Flamenco and the State of Grace Known as Duende

September 24

On my bucket list for Barcelona was seeing an authentic performance of Flamenco. What I meant was Flamenco in the style that’s been around for centuries, since the dance form was first introduced by Gypsies; flamenco, con duende! The style that catches you up in deep emotion, takes you on an excruciating journey, and leaves you feeling wrung out.