Amuse Bouche: Food Fight

Emmanuel Stroobant, chef of Singaporean popular restaurant Saint Pierre, serves a signature wok-fried foie gras with tetaki of Japanese squid, julienne of Parma ham with warm yogurt jelly and black peppercorn reduction. But ask him if he is a fusion chef, and he balks. "I guess I am," he says, "but I don't like the word fusion."

"Fusion has become a bad word in Singapore," says food-and-beverage consultant Peter Knipp, whose company organizes the city-state's annual World Gourmet Summit. "People use it as an excuse to mix ridiculous ingredients, charge double the prices and upset a lot of...