In culinary school almost 15 years ago, Craig says he was “force-fed the notion that there were only three mother cuisines: French, Italian, and Asian.” There are, of course, no shortage of groups—Middle Easterners, Africans, others—who might take issue with such reductionism. But Craig points out that each of the so-called mother cuisines was revitalized by contact with the foods of indigenous Americans. He points to the role of the tomato in modern Italian cooking. “And chilies changed all of the cooking of Asia forever,” he adds. Despite this, modern Native American cuisine has yet to attain the three-star Michelin renown or even general awareness that’s associated with ravioli or coq au vin. Craig hopes that will change. “My stance today,” he says, “is that Native American cuisine is the fourth mother cuisine and needs to be included in that list.”
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 04:51:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015