What is it about?
The rise of the term "cuisine" in relation to the history of foods in California. Before the 1970s, the term "cuisine," which came into English usage from the French, had a low status meaning of "kitchen." "Haute" or "high" cuisine was used to designate a more elevated status of certain foods. This changed with a shifting interest in food during the 1970s, when "cuisine" came to represent something higher status and more artistic than ordinary work in the kitchen. The shift can be seen in cookbooks that that were published during the 1970s, as well as the emergence of new high status restaurants such as Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.
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Why is it important?
There is considerable literature addressing shifts in the culinary and food practices over time but very little that focuses on how the evolution of a term, such as "cuisine," is an important part of changing attitudes toward food and dining.
Perspectives
This article is important in showing that how we talk about something, in this case food and dining, both affects and reflects social and cultural changes over time.
Prof Bertram M Gordon
Mills College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Shifting Tastes and Terms: the Rise of California Cuisine, Revue française d’études américaines, January 1986, PERSEE Program,
DOI: 10.3406/rfea.1986.1225.
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