The question interests me because I see a connection between my own refusal to play by the rules and a noteworthy trend in contemporary cooking. I don't mean to imply that I'm a gourmet chef. My repertoire in the kitchen is decidedly limited. These dishes don't just break the rules within a particular cuisine. They break down the division between different cuisines.
Fusion food confounds our sense of what is appropriate.
Most of us were brought up to believe that different foods belong to different cultures. When people go out to eat, they still speak of eating at an Italian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, or a Caribbean restaurant. The idea of eating at a restaurant that resists this sort of definition is new. I don't have the money to eat at top-dollar restaurants. I haven't even been to many of the lower-priced fusion eateries.