Cuisine of California - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The cuisine of California is the local cuisine of the U.S. state of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

Local ingredients

A highly varied range of micro-climates, dominated by a mild Mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

, and popular health-conscious diets and lifestyles in California promote the production, use and consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, many of them organic.

Also in Northern California, with wine country near by, French, Italian, and Mediterranean inspired food is often featured, as well as Asian-inspired fare. Many of the restaurants, cafes, bistro, and grills use of fresh, local ingredients is custom, sourced from local growers and farmer's markets.

The California Coast, especially the North Coast and Central Coast regions, is a bountiful source of seafood, which is an important staple in a typical California diet.

Battered and fried foods are not quite as common in California as they are in most other states, but there are several notable exceptions, such as fish tacos, tempura

Tempura

], is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried.-Batter:A light batter is made of cold water and soft wheat flour . Eggs, baking soda or baking powder, starch, oil, and/or spices may also be added...

and french fries

French fries

French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...

.

The agricultural abundance and diversity of California's Central Valley provides fresh produce throughout the state. On less than 1 percent of the total farmland in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the Central Valley produces 8 percent of the nation's agricultural output by value.

Sandwiches, burgers, and fast food

Southern California's

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

legendary car culture and the population's reliance on automobiles for transportation throughout California's massive cities, has widely contributed to the popularity of the classic and modern drive-thru restaurant. Restaurant chains such McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out Burger

In-N-Out Burger

In-N-Out Burger is a regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations in the western United States. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther, establishing the first In-N-Out burger in Baldwin Park and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded outside...

, Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr. is an American fast-food restaurant chain located mostly in the Western and Southwestern United States. The first store has opened in Canada in Kelowna, BC. They are in the process of expanding to Mexico, Malaysia, Denmark, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam,...

, Del Taco

Del Taco

Del Taco is a North American fast food restaurant chain which specializes in American-style Mexican cuisine as well as American foods such as burgers, fries, and shakes...

, Original Tommy's, Fatburger

Fatburger

Fatburger is a fast casual restaurant chain. It uses the slogan The Last Great Hamburger Stand. While it is a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked and made to order and the restaurant has a liquor license...

and Big Boy

Big Boy (restaurant)

Big Boy is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Warren, Michigan.Big Boy was started in 1936 by Bob Wian, in partnership with Arnold Peterson in Glendale, California, USA. Marriott Corporation bought the chain in 1967...

were all established in Southern California .

Regional fast food menus differ, generally depending on the ethnic composition of an area. In Southern California, smaller chains like The Hat

The Hat

The Hat is a Southern California fast-food restaurant specializing in pastrami sandwiches. This iconic eatery, once local only to the San Gabriel Valley, has been offering its "World Famous Pastrami" to Southern California residents since 1951. Its customers consume 13 to 15 tons of pastrami per...

feature hamburgers, Mexican food, chili fries, and pastrami

Pastrami

Pastrami , is a popular delicatessen meat usually made from beef and, traditionally in Romania, also from pork and mutton. In Israel, "Pastrama" is the term used for sliced chicken and turkey. Like corned beef, pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration...

.

While gastropub

Gastropub

Gastropub or Gastrolounge refers to a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food.The term gastropub, a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, originated in England in the late 20th century. English pubs were drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food. If...

s are not unique to California, the concept of the gourmet burger is very popular.

Latin influences

Due to California's colonial Spanish

Spanish missions in California

The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...

roots, Mexican territorial

Alta California

Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...

history, and its original population consisting of Meso-Americans, Spanish colonizers

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...

and Mexican ranchers

Californio

Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...

, Mexican and Spanish-origin cuisine is very influential and popular in California, particularly Southern California.

Commercial, quick "taco shop-style"

Taqueria

Taquería is a Spanish word meaning taco shop. In some localities, however, it is used to refer to restaurants specializing in burritos , although tacos and other dishes are often served as well. Originally, Taquerías referred to the stands of street vendors. However, many taquerías today are...

Mexican fast-food, consisting of offerings such as burritos, refried beans

Refried beans

Refried beans is a dish of cooked and mashed beans and is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a somewhat different approach when making the dish.-Ingredients and preparation:...

, tortas, tacos, nachos

Nachos

Nachos are a popular food based on nixtamalized corn, of Mexican origin associated with Tex-Mex cuisine that can be either made quickly to serve as a snack or prepared with more ingredients to make a full meal. In their simplest form, nachos are tortilla chips or totopos covered in melted cheese...

, quesadillas and carne asada fries is widely popular. Countless Taco shops

Taqueria

can be found throughout California.

Traditional Mexican food

Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...

, while not as common as commercial food, is still widely prepared and abundant in the ethnic Mexican American

Mexican American

Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...

border communities of San Diego, the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

metropolitan area, the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

, and in Mexican-American enclaves throughout California. Examples of these foods include tamales, tortillas, tostadas, mole

Mole (sauce)

Mole is the generic name for a number of sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces...

, menudo

Menudo (soup)

The soup Menudo is a traditional Mexican dish, made with beef stomach in a clear broth or with a red chili base . Usually, lime, chopped onions, and chopped cilantro are added, as well as crushed oregano and crushed red chili peppers...

, pozole

Pozole

Pozole is a ritually significant, traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico. Pozole was mentioned in Fray Bernardino de Sahagún's "General History of the Things of New Spain" circa 1500 CE. It is made from nixtamalized cacahuazintle corn, with meat, usually pork, chicken, turkey, pork...

, sopes, chile relleno

Chile relleno

The chile relleno, literally "stuffed chile," is a dish of Mexican cuisine that originated in the city of Puebla. It consists of a roasted fresh poblano pepper , sometimes substituted with non-traditional Hatch green chile, Anaheim, pasilla or even jalapeño chili pepper...

and enchiladas.

In addition to Mexican food, California restaurants serve up nearly every other variation of Central American food there is. For example, pupuserías are common in areas with a large population of Salvadorans (pupusas are stuffed tortilla

Tortilla

In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...

s from El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

).

More recently, "Fresh Mex" or "Baja-style" Mexican food, which places an emphasis on fresh ingredients and sometimes seafood, inspired by Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

fare, is highly popular. El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Mexican grilled chicken, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. "El Pollo Loco" is Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken".Their main dish is pollo asado, a grilled marinated chicken...

, a fast food chain that originated in Northern Mexico, is a common sight. Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill

Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill

Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, formerly known as Rubio's Baja Grill, also simply known as Rubio's, is a fast casual "Fresh Mex" or "New Mex" restaurant chain specializing in Mexican food, with an emphasis on fish tacos. As of 2007, Rubio's operates, licenses or franchises more than 170 restaurants...

, Baja Fresh

Baja Fresh

Baja Fresh is a chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Newbury Park, California in 1990 and headquartered in Cypress, California. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, and each restaurant features a self-serve salsa bar....

, Wahoo's Fish Taco

Wahoo's Fish Taco

Wahoo's Fish Taco is a restaurant chain that offers Mexican food mixed with Brazilian and Asian flavors. Categorized as a "fast casual restaurant", the quality and preparation time of its food is between that of a fast-food restaurant and a more formal restaurant.-History:Wahoo's was founded in...

, Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. is a chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada specializing in burritos and tacos, founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and based in Denver, Colorado...

, Qdoba and La Salsa are examples of the Baja-style Mexican American food trend.

Shellfish, and seafood

In Northern California

Northern California

Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

and the Central Coastal region

Central Coast of California

The Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County...

, Dungeness crab

Dungeness crab

The Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister , is a species of crab that inhabits eelgrass beds and water bottoms on the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood...

s and salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

are abundant.

Asian and Oceanian influences

As one of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s nearest Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

and Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, and with long-standing Asian American

Asian American

Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...

and Oceanian American

Pacific Islander American

Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...

populations, the state tends to adopt foods from those national styles. The American sushi

Sushi

is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

craze no doubt began in California; the term 'California roll

California roll

The California roll is a maki-zushi, a kind of sushi roll, usually made inside-out, containing cucumber, crab meat or imitation crab, and avocado. In some countries it is made with mango instead of avocado...

' is used to describe sushi with avocado as a primary ingredient. These days, items like mochi

Mochi

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time...

ice cream

Mochi ice cream

Mochi ice cream is a Japanese confection made from mochi with an ice cream filling.Originally created by Lotte, as Yukimi Daifuku in 1981, the company first made the product by using a rice starch instead of sticky rice and a type of ice milk instead of real ice cream. Mochi ice cream is now an...

and boba

Bubble tea

Bubble tea is the name for pearl milk tea and other similar tea and juice beverages that originated in tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan during the 1980s. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit and/or milk...

are popular.

Fusion cuisine

Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s.-Categories and types:...

is quite popular in California. The emphasis of California Cuisine is on the use of fresh, local ingredients which are often acquired daily at farmers markets. Menus are changed to accommodate the availability of ingredients in season. Some restaurants create a new menu daily.

Californian chef

Chef

A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions...

is known as one of the pioneers of fusion cuisine, popularizing such dishes as Chinese chicken salad at the restaurant Ma Maison in Los Angeles. His restaurant "Chinois" in Santa Monica was named after the term attributed to Richard Wing, who in the 1960s combined French and Chinese cooking at the former Imperial Dynasty restaurant

Imperial Dynasty restaurant

The Imperial Dynasty restaurant was a five-star restaurant in Hanford, California. The restaurant was founded in 1883 in Hanford's Chinatown, and was run by the same family for four generations....

in Hanford, California

Hanford, California

Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...

California-style pizza

California-style pizza is a style of single-serving pizza that combines New York and Italian thin crust with toppings from the California cuisine cooking style. Wolfgang Puck popularized this style of pizza...

focuses on non-traditional pizza ingredients, such as fresh produce and barbecued meats. California Pizza Kitchen

California Pizza Kitchen

California Pizza Kitchen , known within the food industry as CPK, is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza...

and Wolfgang Puck's restaurants are some of the places that popularize this type of pizza.

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

has been a part of California cuisine since the Mexicans cooked beef in pit barbecues on ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

es in the 1840s. Santa Maria

Santa Maria, California

Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...

is famous for the Tri-tip

Tri-tip

The tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin primal cut. It is a small triangular muscle, usually 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. per side of beef....

, a special kind of beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

cut that can be grilled, baked, braised, or roasted. California's barbecue

Barbecue

style is also influenced by the regional Southwestern American styles of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Chicken, beef ribs, sausages, and steaks are also routinely grilled or smoked in a pit

Pit barbecue

A pit barbecue is a method and constructed item for barbecue cooking meat and root vegetables buried below the surface of the earth. Indigenous peoples around the world used earth ovens for tens of thousands of years. In modern times the term and activity is often associated with the Eastern...

. The barbecue sauce

Barbecue sauce

Barbecue sauce is a flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking...

used in this state is tomato-based, as with all other western states. Pork baby back ribs are popular for barbecue in the Western region in comparison to the popular use of spare ribs

Spare ribs

Spare ribs are a variety of pork ribs and beef ribs, cooked and eaten in various cuisines around the world. They are the most inexpensive cut of pork and beef ribs. They are a long cut from the lower portion of the pig or cattle, specifically the belly and breastbone, behind the shoulder, and...

in the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Local ingredients

Sandwiches, burgers, and fast food

Latin influences

Shellfish, and seafood

Asian and Oceanian influences

Fusion cuisine

California-style pizza

Barbecue

See also

External links