The shaping of American cooking has been dependent on various factors - cooking technologies and available ingredients, and the variety of ethnicity of its people. The Industrial Revolution brought about a series of revolutions in food production, distribution and supply. In the American melting pot - numerous immigrant cuisines have influenced, and then been changed by America's diversity.

Trends and Trendsetters in Cuisines

"Cuisine" is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. It is often named after the region or place where its underlining culture is present. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. A traditional cuisine is a coherent tradition of food preparation that rises from the daily lives and kitchens of a people over an extended period of time in a specific region of a country, or a specific country, and which, when localized, has notable distinctions from the cuisine of the country as a whole. Cuisines are usually also shaped by what food resources are available. There are many "ethnic" cuisines.

America does not have a cuisine as such, though there are many regional cuisines. Home cooking in America often relected midwestern ethnic roots as seen in Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book or Rombauer's The Joy of Cooking. Perhaps the closest to defining an "American" Cuisine is found in the food writer James Beard. Beard's many books - in particular a The Fireside Cook Book (194), a The James Beard Cook book, the New James Beard and many other books including Beard on Food.

The James Beard Foundation was created in his former home to celebrate, nurture, and preserve America’s diverse culinary heritage and future Their programs include educational workshops and other events; they sponsor scholarships for culinary students; and the annual James Beard Foundation Awards are the oscars of food and recognize and honor excellence among chefs, cookbook authors, food journalists, restaurant designers, and others working in the food and beverage industry.

However, America is a melting pot of many cultures and the fusion of these has changed the things people cook and how they prepare them creating new cuisines... Beard wrote: "America has the opportunity, as well as the resources, to create for herself a truely national cuisine that will incorporate all tht is best in the traditions of the many people who have crossed the seas to form our new, still young nation."

California or New American Cuisine emerged in the late 1960's starting with Alice Waters' Chez Panisse which became an advocate for "fresh, seasonal, and local ingredients". Both Jeremiah Tower (who went on to Stars) and Wolfgang Puck (Spago, Chinois, Postrio, etc) started there before moving on to individual fame. New American cuisine is a term for upscale, contemporary cooking combining flavors from America's melting pot with traditional techniques, New American cuisine includes ethnic twists on old standbys, Old World peasant dishes made from luxury American ingredients and features significant creative use of in-season produce and sauces.

The articles on Life in the USA: America Eats on Classic American Cuisine and Modern American Cuisine are just a couple of excellent articles by Elliot Essman, who covers every aspect of America's love affair with food, including its regional cuisines.

• Ethnic Cuisine: How to Create the Authentic Flavors of Over 30 International Cuisines and Crossroads Coooking: The Meetings and Mating of Ethnic Cuisines - from Burma to Texas By Elizabeth Rozin look at the distinctives and interactions of international cuisines.

• French Cuisine and Nouvelle Cuisine became the dominent force in the 1950's. Julia Child's two-volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking and a restaurant Le Pavilion opened by Henri Soule in New York City had a lot to do with this, as did the combination of soldiers returning from Europe, housewives wanting to impress at dinner parties and Julia's TV shows. The simpler country cooking of France described in Provincial French Cuisine by Elizabeth David ; and in Simple French Food and The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney inspired Alice Waters who opened the highy influential Chez Panisse in Berkeley, one of the springboards of America's culinary revolution.

• Italian cuisine emerged into popularity in the 1970's, in part due to Dean & DeLuca, who first imported Basalmic Vinegar, Sundried Tomatoes, and Radicchio; and in part by the restaurant Le Cirque , in New York City popularized Italian Cuisines. The Traditional Standard is Wiki Pasta Primavera is an example of an Americanized Italian dish. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, see also her Marcella Says is based on her cooking classes.

• On Top of Spaghetti by Johanne Killeen and George German has lots of good pasta recipes from their restaurant. Scott Conant's New Italian Cooking and Bold Italian and Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition Barbara Lynch explore new possibilities with Italian Cuisine. Popular TV chefts include Mary Ann Esposito and Giada De Laurentiis, though there are many other Italian cookbooks available.

• Mexican Cuisine became popular in the late 1980's. Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe helped. Rick Bayless Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico and Dianne Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico. This cuisine is not to be confused with Tex-Mex Cuisine which is what many "Mexican" restaurants serve in the US.

• For Greek Cuisine - very healthy Mediterranean fare - there are The Food and Wine of Greece: More Than 300 Classic and Modern Dishes from the Mainland and Islands and The Glorious Foods of Greece: Traditional Recipes from the Islands, Cities, and Villages by Diane Kochilas are excellent books on traditional Greek cuisines.

• If you desire to explore the various cuisines of India: Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking by Jaffrey is recommended and 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is a "jam packed" treasure chest of flavors. Indo Chinese and Thai Cuisines have recently become popular. Bach Ngo's The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam, Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott and Classic Thai Cuisine by David Thompson.

• Spanish Cuisine La Cocina de Mama: The Great Home Cooking of Spain by Penelope Casas
  For some interesting reading on the history of food and how it has shaped civilizations...
  • An Edible History of Humanity By Tom Standage. This book trys to strike a balance between the "Green Revolution" and the "Slow Food" movements.
  • Food in History by Reay Tannahill
  • Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History by Rachel Laudan Tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of the world’s great cuisines and how new cuisines came about.
  • Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People by Linda Civitello
  • Near a Thousand Tables : A History of Food by Filipe Fernandez-Armesto
  • The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating by James L. Watson and Melissa Caldwell (editors)
  • Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Evan Fraser and Andrew Rimas. The thesis of this book is that the agricultural system that sustains modern society will eventually destroy it. The last chapter is worth reading.
  • Potato How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World Surprizingly, the potato was not popular when introduced, but had a revolutionary impact on history.
  • The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat by Joel S. Denker. This book is not a cookbook, but a collection of fifty very informative essays about the vegetables we eat from "Anise" to "Watermelon".
  • For All the Tea in China: How England Stote the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose - how the humble leaf became a global addiction.
  • Chocolate Wars: The 150 Year Rivalry between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers by Deborah Cadbury. A fascinating account of the Chocolate Industry - but more than a history of Cadbury, Hershey, Nestle and Mars and how our candy bars came about - an account of men trying to live their faith amidst the social needs of the industrial revolution, a changing business world, world wars, and globalization.
  • Precious Cargo: How Foods From the Americas Changed The World by David DeWitt, who also has written The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine
  • Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey by Gary Paul Nabhan. About the development of the Spice Trade and the critical roles that Semitic peoples and desert floras had in setting the stage for globalized spice trade
  See also Cooking at Eldrbarry's and Going Green for more of Eldrbarry's Cook Book Pages.
  Coming soon - Pages on America's Food Revolution and a History of the Food Industry in the Northwest

  Contact Barry McWilliams at: BMcW@eldrbarry.net