More
California cuisine
insights

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Alice Waters

The birth year of California cuisine was 1971 when chef Alice Waters opened her now legendary Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley. She was the first restaurateur known to emphasize all of the pillars mentioned above.

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Bountiful California

The state is blessed with magnificent edible gifts from both land and sea. Its climate and soil enable it to grow most of the nation's vegetables. It has a 1350- kilometer (840-mile) coastline kissed by a seafood-rich ocean current. It has some of the world's best wine growing regions. The list goes on and on.

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Diverse ethnicity

California's 35-million-plus people come from many cultures and countries. This helped foster a fusion cuisine.

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Not everyone

Of course, it would be a mistake to suggest that everyone is a bona fide California cuisiner. Most citizens are not. This is the land of fast food, where many of the nation's leading chains - including McDonalds and Taco Bell - were started.

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Click

California cuisine - Page one

for more pointers

What's good, what's bad about it

Creole & Cajun

Hawaiian

New England

Soul Food

Southern

Southwestern

Tex Mex + New York Ethnic

Penn Dutch + Midwest farm

Native American

Cowboy + Pioneer

American city specialties

World cuisines

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Clickable
American cuisine map

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