Culinary Revolution

The Culinary Revolution was a movement during the late 1960s and 1970s, growing out of the Free Speech Movement, when sociopolitical issues began to profoundly effect the way Americans eat. The Culinary Revolution is often credited to have been pioneered by Alice Waters, in Berkeley, California. Waters’ mantra of using fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients drastically changed the food industry in restaurants and at home, thus creating California Cuisine.

Alice Waters

Waters first discovered the importance of food during her first trip to France in 1965. While some of her peers deprived themselves of good food, Waters is known to believe that

“’It’s not enough to liberate yourself politically, to liberate yourself sexually – you have to liberate all the senses.’ She believed that eating together was a socially progressive act, one that was under threat from the fifties American – TV, frozen-food culture.”

Waters introduced America to many foods that today may seem as commonplace, such as mixed-green salads.

"We were doing those very early on. I think lettuce was my first passion. I was bringing seeds over in the early seventies from France and planting 'em in my back yard, wanting a French kind of salad, with frisè and mâche. I'm sure I have contributed to the awful demise of the concept of mesclun, just by promoting it in many, many, many ways. And now, of course, one of those big companies has grabbed on to the idea, and they cut up big lettuces and put 'em in a bag, mix 'em up, and call 'em mesclun. Who is it -- Dole pineapple or somebody?"

Chez Panisse

Chez Panisse, established in 1971, is considered to be one of the most influential dining establishments in the United States. This was the public venue for Waters to exact her culinary ideals of using fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients. The restaurant established working relationships with local farmers and suppliers in order to do so. It also launched the careers of many notable chefs, including Jeremiah Tower, and Paul Bertolli.

Counter-Claim

Jeremiah Tower is often credited with Alice Waters for the invention of the then "new" style of "California Cuisine." He left Chez Panisse in 1977 and maintained a prolific career on his own. From 1978 to 1981 he worked at other Northern California Restaurants, like Vantana in Big Sur and Balboa Cafe in San Francisco. He also taught briefly at the California Culinary Academy, during the school's earlier years at about 1978.

Tower opened his own restaurant, the well acclaimed Stars Restaurant in San Francisco, which was a business partnership with the same investors from another popular restaurant called "Santa Fe Bar and Grill" in Berkeley, California. Tower knew the chef that opened Santa Fe Bar & Grill,as he was a former colleague at Chez Panisse.

Tower has criticized Waters for taking most, if not all, the praise and credit for the acclaim of Chez Panisse; what is more, he criticizes her seemingly for taking credit for the primary leadership in the new "California Cuisine" and the American "Culinary Revolution.". He also questions Waters' role as an actual "chef" in the kitchen, implying that she has not cooked in years, and then continues to also questions her role in the restaurant altogether. Tower has written about this issue of contention in his book, California Dish: What I saw (and cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution (2003), quoting many of his peers from Chez Panisse for support. Many of these peers have since gone on to other ventures, much like Tower himself. Of those, many of them are equally popular and prolific unto the ongoing development of the new "California Cuisine" or the "New American Classics" that Tower fashioned himself.

Tower is appraised for his contributions by the likes of popular chefs [Sara Moulton]] and Jacques Pepin. On the backside of "California Dish" it is quoted:

"The food of Jeremia Tower has always satisfied my belly belly and my soul. He was there from the start and is more qualified than anyone else to tell the story of the American food revolution of the last thirty years"- Jacques Pepin

"California Dish delivers on the double meaning implicit in its title- it serves up a longtime insider's juicy perspective on the key players of the American culinary revolution..." -Sara Moulton

See also

Cuisine of the United States

Sources

• Bertoli, Paul and Alice Waters. Chez Panisse Cooking. New York: Random House, 1988. ISBN 0-394-55908-8
• Tower, Jeremiah. California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution. New York: Free Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7432-2844-8 or 0-7432-2845-6.
• Tower, Jeremiah. New American Classics. New York: Harper and Row, 1986.