Cuisine

Cuisine refers to a particular style of cooking, defined by its unique ingredients, methods, and finished dishes, and it is typically linked to a specific culture or region. The way a region prepares food, its local customs, and the ingredients it has access to all come together to create dishes that are found nowhere else. Every cuisine grows out of what is locally available, and factors like climate, farming, trade routes, and cultural exchange shape the distinct tastes and practices that set one culinary tradition apart from another. Because of this, cuisine works both as a practical way to feed people and as a kind of symbolic language, allowing societies to express their values and heritage. It is a broad cultural expression that mirrors the history, geography, and identity of the people who make it.

Cuisines differ widely but also share common patterns, which have been influenced by migration, colonization, and globalization. Historical events like the Columbian exchange, the Silk Road, and the expansion of empires brought new ingredients and techniques that changed local food traditions. For instance, tomatoes, chilies, and potatoes—all originally from the Americas—became essential to Italian, Indian, and Irish cuisines, showing that cuisines are dynamic systems that constantly adapt while still holding onto their roots.

Cuisine also plays a central part in social and ceremonial life. Meals often mark important occasions, from religious holidays to family celebrations, and traditional dishes can carry symbolic meaning. Preparing and sharing food is often a communal activity that passes cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. In many societies, culinary traditions are closely tied to identity, with certain dishes becoming symbols of national or regional pride.

Since the later part of the twentieth century, cuisine has become increasingly globalized. Restaurants, media, and travel have exposed people to a wide range of culinary traditions. This has led both to the preservation of traditional foodways and to the rise of fusion cuisine, which blends elements from multiple cultures. While globalization can sometimes challenge the authenticity or continuity of local traditions, it also encourages creativity and cross-cultural appreciation. As a result, cuisine remains an evolving part of human culture, reflecting both continuity and change in how people experience food.

**Etymology**

The word *cuisine* has been used in English since the late 18th century to mean a manner or style of cooking. It was borrowed from French, where it literally means 'kitchen' and originally comes from the Latin *coquere*, meaning 'to cook'.

**Influences on cuisine**

A cuisine is partly shaped by the ingredients available locally or through trade. Regional ingredients are developed and often contribute to a regional or national cuisine—for example, Japanese rice in Japanese cuisine.

Religious food laws can also influence cuisine. Indian cuisine, for instance, is influenced by Hinduism, which is mainly lacto-vegetarian (avoiding meat and eggs) due to sacred animal worship. Sikhism influences Punjabi cuisine, Buddhism influences East Asian cuisine, Christianity influences European cuisine, Islam influences Middle Eastern cuisine, and Judaism influences Jewish and Israeli cuisine.

Other factors that influence a region’s cuisine include its climate, trade between countries, religious or sumptuary laws, and culinary culture exchange. For example, a tropical diet may rely more on fruits and vegetables, while a polar diet might depend more on meat and fish. Climate largely determines which native foods are available and also affects food preservation. Foods preserved for winter by smoking, curing, and pickling have remained important in world cuisines because of their altered taste.

Trade between countries also heavily affects a region’s cuisine. Dating back to the ancient spice trade, seasonings like cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were important items of commerce in the earliest evolution of trade, and India was a global market for them. Cinnamon and cassia reached the Middle East at least 4,000 years ago.

Certain foods and preparations are required or forbidden by religious or sumptuary laws, such as Islamic dietary laws and Jewish dietary laws.

Culinary culture exchange is another important factor. Japan’s first major direct exposure to the West came with European missionaries in the second half of the 16th century. At that time, the combination of Spanish and Portuguese game frying techniques with an East Asian method for cooking vegetables in oil led to the development of tempura, the popular Japanese dish in which seafood and many types of vegetables are coated in batter and deep fried.

**History**

Cuisine dates back to classical antiquity. As food began to require more planning, meals emerged that were centered around culture.

**Evolution of cuisine**

Cuisines evolve continually, and new cuisines are created through innovation and cultural interaction. One recent example is fusion cuisine, which combines elements of various culinary traditions without fitting into any single style. It generally refers to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s. Nouvelle cuisine ('New cuisine') is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine that was popularized in the 1960s by food critics Henri Gault, who coined the phrase, and his colleagues André Gayot and Christian Millau in a new restaurant guide called *Gault-Millau*, or *Le Nouveau Guide*. Molecular cuisine is a modern style of cooking that takes advantage of many technical innovations from scientific disciplines (molecular cooking). The term was coined in 1999 by a French INRA chemist.