India, April 6 -- Do you remember a time when chefs talked about fusion cooking? This was supposed to be food that combined Indian dishes with any kind of foreign influence. So, if you put Boursin cheese on a paratha, this was fusion. Or if you rubbed Indian spices on a lamb chop, this too was fusion.

It all seems quite tame now but, at the time, it would get chefs very agitated. Some would say things like 'fusion is confusion' and get self-righteous about it. In a sense our chefs were reflecting global prejudices of the 1960s and 1970s. Any French chef who used an unfamiliar spice had to explain himself to the critics.

But by the 1980s all that had changed. Joel Robuchon borrowed freely from Spanish cuisine. Jean Andre Charial installe...