California cuisine

src: upload.wikimedia.org

California cuisine is a style of cuisine marked by an interest in fusion cuisine (integrating disparate cooking styles and ingredients) and in the use of freshly prepared local ingredients.

The food is typically prepared with strong attention to presentation. Foods low in saturated fats and high in fresh vegetables and fruits with lean meats and seafood from the California coast often define the style. The term California cuisine arose as a result of culinary movements in the last decades and should not be confused with the traditional foods of California. French cuisine, Italian cuisine, Mexican cuisine, Chinese cuisine, and Japanese cuisine have all influenced Californian fusion cuisine, though this is by no means a complete list of influencing cultures.

Video California cuisine

History

One of the first proponents of using fresh, locally available foods was Helen Evans Brown, who became friends with James Beard after publishing Helen Brown's West Coast Cookbook in 1952. She advocated using fruits and spices available in one's own neighborhood, forgoing poor grocery store substitutes, as well as fresh seafood, caught locally. The book received wide acclaim and became the "template" for what is now thought of as California cuisine. Alice Waters, who opened Chez Panisse restaurant in 1971 in Berkeley, California, has contributed significantly to the concept of California Cuisine. About the same time, in Yountville in the Napa Valley, Sally Schmitt began serving single-menu monthly dinners that emphasized local ingredients, continuing the concept when she and her husband Don opened The French Laundry in 1978. In Los Angeles, Wolfgang Puck was also an early pioneer of California cuisine; starting with his work at Patrick Terrail's Ma Maison, and further work with Ed LaDou on California-style pizza at Spago and Asian fusion at Chinois on Main. Daniel Patterson, a more modern proponent of the style, emphasizes vegetables and foraged foods while maintaining the traditional emphasis on local foods and presentation.

The style was notably parodied in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho.

Maps California cuisine

Specialty dishes

• California pizza was popularized by California Pizza Kitchen and Wolfgang Puck and has caught on as a national trend in the United States; pizzas are heavily themed, and generally include a variety of nontraditional pizza ingredients - Thai chicken pizza with peanut sauce in place of tomato sauce and crushed nuts and bean sprouts is one popular variant; so is a gourmet bacon cheeseburger-themed pizza that usually includes fruit-smoked bacon, lettuce, and a small amount of gourmet mayonnaise.

src: www.healthychefcreations.com

See also

• New American cuisine, derived from California cuisine
• The French Laundry

src: pages.mapsofworld.com

References

src: static1.squarespace.com

External links

• California Fusion wikibook
• Timeline: The Introduction of Asian foods to California at FoodTimeline.org

Source of article : Wikipedia