Ingredients for the First California Cuisine

Abstract

Between statehood and 1900 Californians, the Bay Area specifically, developed a regional foodway representative of the various cultures that had both emigrated from and immigrated to the state. As a result, in a short time numerous groups quickly established a California foodway based upon easy access to copious amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, dairy products, pork, and beef. As these immigrants replicated the foodways of their homelands they introduced their skill, technology, trial and error know-how, and traditions to bring fresh foods and wines to the California table. As a result, restaurant fare, street vendors, farmer’s markets, and grocery stores grew to meet the culinary concerns of the region’s world citizenry and helped create a distinguishable California Cuisine.