The rhetoric of Loas/French fusion : beyond the representation of the western tourist experience of cuisine in the world heritage city of Luang Prabang, Laos

Inextricably interwoven into the Western tourist experience of Luang Prabang, former royal capital and former French colonial town, is a food encounter increasingly subsumed under the description of 'Lao-French fusion cuisine'. There has been a conscious exploitation of the connection between the cultural heritage of this World Heritage town, and the distinctiveness of its cuisine as intangible heritage. This article explores the intersections between the way the cuisine is represented, the contestations around these representations (what is included and excluded, the use of the past) and the Western cuisine experience of Luang Prabang. We argue the rhetoric of fusion is partial, selective and strongly influenced by the various ways Luang Prabang (re)presents itself to Western tourists. Further, that the touristic image/experience of Luang Prabang's cuisine camouflages under the fusion description a highly mobile set of dynamics and understanding of the food scenarios within the historic city. In particular, the intermingling of many food traditions; the highly improvized nature of cuisine, the interplay between local farming, markets and food production, food imports from Thailand, China, Vietnam and France, the way cuisine marks and ritualizes social groups (Lao bourgeoisie, students, monks, hilltribe ethnic minorities, expatriates, Western tourists, etc.) and the ebb and flow between these groups in food production and consumption. The heritage tourist rhetoric of fusion masks complexity and freezes an open-ended process into a fixed representation.