| The 1970's brought a great deal of upheaval and new | | | | did not necessarily mean less. |
| ideas to the forefront, and the world of cuisine was no | | | | One of the main goals of nouvelle cuisine was to |
| exception. In June of 1975, the British magazine | | | | excite more than just the sense of taste. A skilled |
| Harpers & Queen coined a term to refer to a new | | | | nouvelle chef would be able to produce a meal that |
| type of food that was sweeping the world: Nouvelle | | | | was artistically arranged on the plate and contained a |
| Cuisine. | | | | wonderful mix of smells, textures, and flavors. Oils and |
| What is nouvelle cuisine? It is, in a word, the marriage | | | | fresh spices were used extensively to bring out the |
| of health-conscious California to traditional France. | | | | natural flavor of the fresh vegetables and pastas in |
| Consider it an updated version of French cuisine- | | | | these meals. |
| flavorful food with a light-handed, healthy approach. It's | | | | The way we cook at home today owes a great deal |
| difficult to define nouvelle cuisine in more specific terms | | | | to nouvelle cuisine. Olive oil, vinaigrette, and fresh herbs |
| because of its huge impact on the way food in | | | | are common today in many American kitchens, mainly |
| general is prepared today. Nouvelle cuisine opened | | | | due to the influence of the nouvelle cuisine movement. |
| doors to a new generation of restaurant-goers who | | | | Restaurants, too, have taken their cue: before the |
| loved rich tastes and fresh combinations, but didn't | | | | appearance of nouvelle cuisine, portions were heavier |
| want their bodies to pay for it later. | | | | and larger, and consumers went to restaurants |
| With this new lighter menu came a new style of | | | | expecting to come out full, but not necessarily sated. |
| cooking as well. Chefs in nouvelle cuisine restaurants | | | | Nowadays fine restaurants base their expertise on |
| used shorter cooking times and fresher ingredients, | | | | combining flavors, not smothering them; and on their |
| cutting down on the multiple steps that got in the way | | | | presenting food that satisfies, not simply fills, an empty |
| of the natural flavors of the food. In a world that was | | | | stomach. |
| waking up to faster-moving times and stricter diets, this | | | | There is still a debate on whether nouvelle cuisine has |
| new cuisine caught on with incredible speed. | | | | disappeared from the radar. It has certainly influenced |
| Like any other trend, nouvelle cuisine was often widely | | | | other fields of cooking, but nobody is sure if it can be |
| misunderstood and misrepresented. Depending on | | | | considered a movement of its own in the current |
| what regional restaurant you visited, you might have | | | | times. Then again, a trend that catches on so quickly is |
| been subjected to a low-calorie meal with tiny portions | | | | almost always destined to develop in other ways and |
| and been told it was nouvelle cuisine. Many chefs and | | | | spread to other things, losing its identity as a separate |
| consumers alike did not grasp the concept that lighter | | | | entity along the way. |