Cultural Food Appropriation

The debate over whether non-native chefs can cook and profit from other cultures' cuisines exploded in the 2010s. Cases ranged from a Portland burrito shop closed after accusations of stealing Mexican recipes, to a white chef's "clean" Chinese food concept criticised as erasure, to Gordon Ramsay's Asian restaurant accused of caricature. The counter-argument — that food has always been shared and fusion is how cuisines evolve — highlights an unresolved tension between cultural respect and culinary freedom.