European cuisine

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Croissant, a sweet roll associated with France.
Different shapes and types of pasta from Italy.

European cuisine, or alternatively Western cuisine is a generalized term collectively referring to the cuisines of Europe and other Western countries. European cuisine includes that of Europe and to some extent Russia, as well as non-indigenous cuisines of North America, Australasia, Oceania, and Latin America. The term is used by East Asians to contrast with Asian styles of cooking.[1] This is analogous to Westerners referring collectively to the cuisines of Asian countries as Asian cuisine. When used by Westerners, the term may refer more specifically to cuisine in Europe; in this context, a synonym is Continental cuisine, especially in British English.

The cuisines of Western countries are diverse by themselves, although there are common characteristics that distinguishes Western cooking from cuisines of Asian countries[2] and others. Compared with traditional cooking of Asian countries, for example, meat is more prominent and substantial in serving-size[3] Steak in particular is a common dish across the West. Similarly to some Asian cuisines, Western cuisines also put substantial emphasis on sauces as condiments, seasonings, or accompaniments (in part due to the difficulty of seasonings penetrating the often larger pieces of meat used in Western cooking). Many dairy products are utilized in the cooking process, except in nouvelle cuisine.[4] Wheat-flour bread has long been the most common sources of starch in this cuisine, along with pasta, dumplings and pastries, although the potato has become a major starch plant in the diet of Europeans and their diaspora since the European colonization of the Americas. Maize is much less common in most European diets than it is in the Americas; however corn meal, or polenta, is a major part of the cuisine of Italy and the Balkans.

Restaurants advertised to be specializing in generic Western cuisine in Asia tend to have menus containing a mixture of dishes mainly from France, the English-speaking world, and Germany. Since the early 1990s dishes from Italy and Spain have become more prominent on these restaurants' menus.


Contents

[edit] Eastern European cuisines

Hungarian gulyás soup
Russian borscht

[edit] Northern European cuisines

An English Sunday roast.
Scandinavian smørrebrød or smörgås, from Norway


[edit] Southern European cuisines

Typical Greek salad.
Seafood paella from Spain.

[edit] Western European cuisines

German Sauerbraten with potato dumplings


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leung Man-tao (12 February 2007), "Eating and Cultural Stereotypes", Eat and Travel Weekly, no. 312, p. 76. Hong Kong
  2. ^ Kwan Shuk-yan (1988). Selected Occidental Cookeries and Delicacies, p. 23. Hong Kong: Food Paradise Pub. Co.
  3. ^ Lin Ch'ing (1977). First Steps to European Cooking, p. 5. Hong Kong: Wan Li Pub. Co.
  4. ^ Kwan Shuk-yan, pg 26
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