California cuisine
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California cuisine is a food movement that originated in Northern California, in the United States. The cuisine focuses on dishes that use local and sustainable ingredients, with attention to seasonality.<ref>"The birth of California cuisine is generally traced back to Alice Waters in the 1970s and her restaurant Chez Panisse. Waters introduced the idea of using natural, locally grown fresh ingredients to produce her dishes. California cuisine is... local, based like most traditional regional cooking on available ingredients including abundant seafood. Fresh vegetables, lightly cooked, and fresh fruits, berries, and herbs characterize the cuisine generally, but California cooking is also in fact a fusion of cooking from around the world." Benjamin F. Shearer Culture and Customs of the United States Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 Template:ISBN, 440, page 212</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The food is historically chef-driven; Alice Waters's restaurant Chez Panisse is an iconic example. Dishes and meals 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 of the 20th century and is not to be confused with the traditional foods of California. California fusion cuisine has been influenced by French, American, Italian, Mexican, and culinary styles, among other food cultures.
History
One of the first proponents of using fresh, locally available foods was Helen Evans Brown, who published Helen Brown's West Coast Cookbook in 1952. She advocated using fruits and spices available in one's neighborhood, forgoing poor grocery store substitutes, as well as fresh seafood, caught locally.Template:Citation needed The book received wide acclaim and became the "template" for what is now thought of as California cuisine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Alice Waters, who opened the restaurant Chez Panisse in 1971 in Berkeley, has contributed significantly to the concept of California cuisine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Food Fight, Revolution Never Tasted So Good! A Documentary by Chris Taylor, 2008.</ref>
At about the same time, in Yountville in the Napa Valley, Sally Schmitt<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Los Angeles, Wolfgang Puck was also an early pioneer of California cuisine, starting with his work at Patrick Terrail's<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ma Maison and later with Ed LaDou on California-style pizza at Spago and Asian fusion at Chinois on Main.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mark Peel, who worked for both Waters and Puck, went on to co-found La Brea Bakery and Campanile Restaurant<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with his then-wife Nancy Silverton. As executive chef, he mentored other up-and-coming chefs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Daniel Patterson, a modern proponent of the style,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> emphasizes vegetables and foraged foods while maintaining the traditional emphasis on local ingredients and presentation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>