Add to the fact, professional chefs often specialize in different cuisines. Hiroyuki Sakai's specialty for example was French cuisine. They aren't feigning to k

Add to the fact, professional chefs often specialize in different cuisines. Hiroyuki Sakai's specialty for example was French cuisine. They aren't feigning to know about something foreign to them, they're literal experts in their domain. This is a passion. The catch with "cultural appropriation", if you read the frequently updated definition on wikipedia, is it's deemed as such if it's done with disrespect (or, alternatively, if you're white, with the rationalization that it's "colonial". Yes, words have lost meaning). Taking the care to learn something in depth as it is traditionally done is not disrespectful. However, spinning off other cultures as "exotic" consumables for personal gain can be. But we already have a word for this: disrespect.