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California

The Golden State has emerged as America’s culinary capital. In the late 1970s, California chefs created California cuisine, an innovative hybrid that favors simple preparations using fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. It has also benefited from Asian, Mediterranean, and Latin influences. No fad, California cuisine today is an important contemporary culinary approach that has caught on throughout the country. The Golden State can also claim inspiration for many of our favorite foods. Though the hamburger had been around, the illustrous cheeseburger was invented in Pasadena in 1920. Other California creations include the Popsicle, hot fudge sundae, canned fruit cocktail, and French dip sandwich. In the 1930s, Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant was the birthplace of both the Cobb salad and Shirley Temple. Creamy Green Goddess Dressing was dreamed up by a San Francisco chef in the 1920s. More recently, the fruit smoothie, fish taco, and California sushi roll have come out of the Golden State to nationwide success. Almost all of America’s almonds, walnuts, olives, artichokes, pistachios, and 9 of every 10 bottles of wine that we drink come out of California.

Featured Cook Zaya Cooking Level: Intermediate Home Town: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore Living In: San Diego, California, USA

About me: I love to eat. I love to try new places, cuisines... everything that I'm unfamiliar with,but its too expensive to eat out all the time. So whenever I taste something fabulous, I'll go home and try to copy the flavor. I strive for authenticity, especially for foods from cultures different from my own. I'm from a family that loves to experiment with different cuisines.. plus I'm Chinese, I eat pretty much EVERYthing. I absolutely hate ghetto-fusion foods like: gringo sushi (all the weird rolls), pseudo Chinese food, etc. I try my best to make everything from scratch, stocks, pie shells..etc, but sometimes, life gets in the way, so I have to resort to using prepared stuff. I wish I had a more sensitive palate, as opposed to this uber picky one i have now- makes it very difficult to be satisfied with food. My Profile | Reviews | Photos | Recipes | Menus Favorite Food Lists Create your own Cook's Profile | MORE Cooks »