Ebook: Inside the California food revolution: thirty years that changed our culinary consciousness

"In this authoritative and immensely readable insider's account, celebrated cookbook author and former chef Joyce Goldstein traces the development of California cuisine from its early years in the 1970s to the present, when farm-to-table, foraging, and fusion cuisine are part of the national vocabulary. Goldstein's interviews with almost two hundred chefs, purveyors, artisans, winemakers, and food writers bring to life an era when cooking was grounded in passion, bold innovation, and a dedication to "flavor first." The author shows how the counterculture movement in the West gave rise to a restaurant culture that was defined by open kitchens, women in leadership positions, and the presence of a surprising number of chefs and artisanal food producers who lacked formal training. California cuisine challenged the conventional kitchen hierarchy and dominance of French technique in fine dining, she explains, leading to a more egalitarian restaurant culture and informal food scene. In weaving the author's view of California food culture with profiles of those who played a part in its development-from Alice Waters to Bill Niman to Wolfgang Puck-Inside the California Food Revolution demonstrates that, in addition to access to fresh produce, the region also shared a distinctly Western culture of openness, creativity, and collaboration. Wonderfully detailed and engagingly written, this book elucidates as never before how the inspirations that emerged in California went on to transform the eating experience throughout the U.S. and the world"--;Thirty Years of Food Revolution: A Historical Overview -- One Revolution, Two Ways: Northern versus Southern California -- Defying Kitchen Convention: Self-Taught Chefs and Iconoclasts -- Women Chefs and Innovation: The New Collaborative Kitchen -- New Flavors: Upscale Ethnic, Eclectic, and Fusion Food -- New Menus: The Daily Menu and the Story behind the Food -- Restaurants Reimagined: Transformations in the Kitchen and Dining Room -- A New World of Fresh Produce: Reviving the Farm-to-Table Connection -- Custom Foods: Chefs Partner with Purveyors and Artisans -- Merging the Worlds of Wine and Food: Common Cause -- Afterword: The Continuing Evolution of California Cuisine.