FROM MANY WE ARE ONE

The Rebirth of American Cuisine and the Rise of the CIA

Introduction

I am a chef, not a writer, a revelation that’ll soon become obvious. However, I was as an active participant having personally lived through and cooked during the time when American cuisine changed, improved, prevailed and, in the hands of chefs and their mentors, restaurateurs and foodservice entrepreneurs, captured the imagination and respect of culinary professionals, the media and consumers everywhere.

My first-hand experiences and my desire to document this evolution, augmented by the accounts of others who lived and worked through this evolution, drove me to write this book. Not to suggest that previously published accounts fell short, rather to illustrate the remarkable multi-dimensional impact American Cuisine achieved both in the domestic and global arenas. My mission for this book is to tell the story of American cuisine from the vantage point of an immigrant chef, unencumbered by undue influences, but always part of the journey’s meandering road that led to this remarkable evolution….

Nationally, the advance of American Cuisine was first buoyed by the Culinary Institute’s promise to train young American cooks, followed by the food revolution ignited in California, the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) initiative to professionalize cooking with apprenticeship and certification programs, the US almost forced acceptance of chefs as professionals, and finally the public’s growing love affair with food and its practitioners. Instrumental for global recognition of America Cuisine were several world-class competitions, such as the Culinary Olympics, the Culinary World cup and the Bocuse D’or, all won by American chefs in the ‘80s.

My 21 years as president of the CIA, the preeminent culinary school in the country, afforded me the unique opportunities to personally interact with the icons of American cooking. Invited as graduation speakers or as honored guests at special events, the who-is-who in the then culinary arena, including Julia Child, James Beard, Paul Bocuse, Graham Kerr, Craig Claiborne and many others, generously accepted their part as mentors and role models, sharing advice and encouraging our students. It was during those visits, often at late evening conversations, sharing a glass of wine, that revealed personal stories, character traits and the ups-and-downs of the icons’ illustrious careers.

Seminal Events - GLOBAL RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN CUISINE

The bicentennial year of 1976 was, for many reasons, a watershed period, as it ushered in many exhilarating moments: The Culinary Olympics, won by American chefs, the Paris Tasting, where Napa Valley wines beat the best of France and the Queen’s Luncheon, celebrating the country’s bicentennial, to name a few, transformed the American culinary scene. American food and wines emerged from their preordained bottom position of global notoriety to claim their rightful place on the world stage. What remained puzzling initially was the glaring unawareness by the public and media, and the lack of appreciation of American participation in international culinary competitions that focused on an American cuisine that ultimately would propel it to the top of the gastronomic world stage.

LE PAVILLON

Without a doubt, my three-year experience at Le Pavillon shaped my appreciation and commitment to quality and to the pursuit of perfection which helped me immeasurably when I took over the reins at the CIA. I began to understand that quality in anything one does will lead to success. The owner, Henri Soulé ran Le Pavillon with Napoleonic haughtiness and vigorous attention to detail. His dream of creating an haute cuisine restaurant in NYC, equal to the best of France became a reality when he hired Pierre Freney, Jacques Pepin and later Clement Grangier to head up the brigade.

RISE OF THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA (CIA)

Education, more than just training, gives purpose and fulfillment to life, while unlocking a person’s full potential, leading to a promising career and upward mobility.

Years past, any American interested in a culinary career had nowhere to turn to, other than to become self-taught, enroll in an informal apprenticeship, or hope to complete a stage under a foreign-born chef, usually European. A career in cooking was never regarded as a viable or sensible choice, often deemed unsuitable, best left to the less equipped or ambitious. The fact that societal wisdom regarded cooks and chefs as secondary citizens who made an unfortunate career choice doomed to failure, did not help to turn things around. Fortunately, all this began to change when two courageous, visionary women, Frances Roth and Kathrine Angell, opened the doors of what was then called Restaurant School of New Haven, later known as the Culinary Institute of America (CIA)

THE DARK AGES OF FOOD IN AMERICA

Arguably, there never was a period like the Dark Ages of food in America in the ’50s and ’60s, when our concern for good nutrition, food and dining in America hit an all-time low. It was much less an issue of availability, but rather the astonishing disinterest of consumers to demand better, fresher and seasonal ingredients. Instead of insisting on quality, the public cried out for convenience of any shape or form, befitting their new lifestyle.

America was slowly slipping into this dark, all-consuming world of expediency and convenience in the name of changing lifestyles, mostly unaware of their longer-term perils. Like it or not, the fast food syndrome has become a major part of the American food culture, serving the young and needy, while maintaining a sharp focus on profitability and to a much lesser degree social responsibility.

THE AWAKENING: THE DAWN OF AMERICAN CUISINE

Happening along the way were a number of influential gastronomic and socially dominated events that in their own ways contributed and helped shape the notion of America’s arrival on the global culinary stage. Those influences made their mark known through education, food and wine competitions, an industry-wide effort to establish culinary standards, and high profile political and social events, all spearheaded by our culinary trailblazers and visionaries.

The decades of the ’70s going into the ’80s may well have been the most exciting and influential in the evolution of food in America. Without any evidence of orchestration, the gastronomic stars aligned, giving birth to a series of incredible events that in the aggregate defined the contemporary genesis for food and wine in America. The improbable victory of the US hockey team swept across the nation like a contagious wave, infecting with its uplifting promise everyone and everything in its path, including awakening the chefs of America from their decade-long slumber….

A group of inspired California chefs, led by Alice Waters, and Jeremiah Tower saw food and cooking in a different light: the principles of their new approach were based on lighter fare, the best, freshest and seasonal products, and a style of cooking that celebrated these ingredients without masking their identity.

This feeling of a renewed and promising future continued into the ’80s, when the American Culinary Teams won three consecutive World Championships and one World Cup putting American cuisine on par with the major cuisines on the global stage, while American wines became, somewhat reluctantly, the toast of Paris.

THE ICONS

America had the good fortune of building on the decade-long efforts of its food icons, who, like prophets, intuitively prepared the American public to again embrace food into its culture, creating new traditions of food, wine and hospitality and developing respect for the men and women, chefs and restaurateurs whose passion raised the level of culinary skills to new heights.

Had it not been for the influence of these individuals, American cuisine would not be what it is today. It was these icons, Julia Child, James Beard, Joe Baum and Graham Kerr, that ignited the passion for food and cooking in both the home and the professional kitchens of America. It is my fond reminiscences of these icons, with a good measure of respect and admiration, often based on my personal relationships, that bring to mind some anecdotes or special moments.

EARLY TRAILBLAZERS AND VISIONARIES

Having witnessed the infectious success of the American team at the Culinary Olympics and the West coast food revolution, chefs across the country embraced this new concept that America could indeed have its own cuisine, and they added their own twist based on seasonal foods and began the experimentation that would lead to their interpretation of a more realistic and sensible way to cook. As the media exposed these innovative forays into new, but actually forgotten territory, food, for Americans, became a fashionable status symbol that valued style over substance. Chefs didn’t think so. Sensing an exciting opportunity to create and personalize their menus, chefs’ broke traditions and ventured into this creative bubble. It yielded some extraordinary presentations as well as some rather ordinary, if not forgettable, ones, all of which was further vindicated by, shall we say, new possibilities, espoused by nouvelle cuisine.

Decades after Joe Baum revealed his masterpiece, the Four Seasons in New York, pioneers like Alice Waters opened her quintessential Chez Panisse restaurant, Jeremiah Tower announced his vision at Stars, while Wolfgang Puck took pizzas and casual dining to a new level.

The celebration of our Bicentennial gave all of us a reason to feel better about ourselves and the country. Heard around America was some rumbling in California about a new way of cooking that, of all things, prized fresh, seasonal and local foods as central to it. Chefs in America noted what was going on and saw in the spirit of Nouvelle freedom to create and innovate, regardless of previous dictates and traditions. Julia Child’s coming onto the public scene in the mid-sixties had captured a popular following, clamoring to learn to cook and to embrace food as a means of self-expression. Dinner parties, ethnic dishes and cooking classes became central to a sophisticated lifestyle, marking the beginning of a counter-culture revolution that swept the nation.

For many reasons, the decade of the seventies became America’s gastronomic awakening and a period of reflection as it witnessed a return to sensible, nutritious foods. Several seminal events proclaimed the beginning of a new way to cook and dine; new standards for the culinary profession; and an ascension of American food and wine on the global stage.

THE MISSING ELEMENT: EDUCATING SKILLED, PASSIONATE COOKS

Like an imperfect recipe, missing that one ingredient, which elevates it above others, so was the restaurant industry facing the prospect of having to compete with (for) qualified cooks/chefs in the sixties through seventies. Our early CIA leadership team, inherently embracing our predestined mission, captured the moment to fulfill the still missing component by educating and training young Americans ready to embrace this challenge and lead the development of America’s own cuisine. Up to that point the country looked to European imports to fill the need for skilled and passionate cooks to satisfy the country’s growing appetite for better food.

Chefs across the country became educated (many of them at the CIA), and joined the brother/sisterhood of innovative thinkers who left their footprint in every corner of the country, leaving in their wake a feeling of national pride, unbridled confidence and a non-yielding stubbornness that had once characterized the early pioneers and now was inherited by the country’s cooks. It was those forerunners who understood that a true and successful American cuisine could not endure unless restored with the comforting feeling of great hospitality, economic sensibility and a passionate commitment to quality.

WHERE DOES AMERICAN CUISINE GO FROM HERE?

Like cêpes in the spring, young American chefs popped up in all parts of the country, some of them in metropolitan bi-coastals and others in the vast space that is America. The CIA became a significant partner in the development of American cuisine. Surely, there were many other talented individuals and restaurants that effectively and enthusiastically shared their vision of American cuisine, but none matching the enormous outreach of the CIA thanks to its thousands of graduates. Benefitting from their experience and training, these young chefs were united by their desire, not just for change, but, more importantly, to become part of something bigger than themselves, to create a distinct style of American Cuisine, propelled by their zealous need to succeed. Each one of them found their niche within the vast potential of the new cuisine, their own comfortable place within the promise for success. Our graduates reflected these qualities of courage, enabling them to chart their own ways, determination to see their vision become reality, and a burning desire to create a cuisine reflective of their dreams and America’s future as a food nation.

THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN CHEF

How does one “make” a chef, or better yet first a cook? Impossible, you say? “You don’t make a chef. Chefs are born.” From an educational perspective, and with the objective to focus on American cooking, related ingredients, culinary history and traditions, one should deliver to American kitchens the most seasoned and effective teachers, extensive hands-on experiences and appropriate facilities, all under the umbrella of an educational philosophy that values cooking fundamentals and innovation.

The low esteem for chefs held not only by the public, but also by the US Government, did not contribute much to alter the perception that cooking was ill-suited for a serious career. Having labeled chefs and cooks as unskilled and uneducated, the government relegated them to the category of domestics, a necessary evil for the foodservice industry.

Ignoring its own history that held in high esteem the leading chefs and restaurateurs of the Dormant Period, the public’s stereotypical and mostly negative perception of our craft and its practitioners was one day drastically changed. America’s chefs did not, however, wait for opinions to change; instead they changed from within. The need for professionalism led to the development and implementation of the Cooks’ Apprenticeship and Chefs’ Certification programs, establishing never-before articulated standards of skills, knowledge and conduct.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT - THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN AMERICAN CUISINE

The nation’s collective culinary enlightenment reached all corners of the American conscience as it affected and influenced the way we look at food, its health consequences and the people, who prepare and serve it.

More a rebirth of time-tested principles than an evolution, its rapid-pace development penetrates the consciousness of its movers, and its participants occasionally need time to re-energize and reflect on its ability to meet the ever-changing conditions of its environment; and so too does cooking in America. Debates gave way to serious contemplations. As questions of an American cuisine no longer dominated the conversation, chefs and restaurateurs, once swept up by the emotionally charged prospect of being part of this exciting journey, followed the CIA’s lead, turning their efforts to connect with their customers, while refining their interpretations and menu offering.

CHEFS IN AMERICA

It is great to be a chef in America, but it was not always so. Having overcome their own checkered past, discrimination, European domination, and emancipation from their own feeling of being secondary to foreign chefs, American chefs embraced the evolution of America’s cuisine, finally settling in, quite comfortably and impressively (I might add), to develop their version of American food. They, among others, felt the pain of this unforgivable bias, which prevented many from to gaining much deserved recognition and commensurate compensation as the fight for equality continues.

WOMEN CHEFS

“Cooking is not a purview of the muscular gender”

Many discussions have taken place, and much has been written about the journey, trials and tribulations of women chefs, unfortunately expressed by those who could affect change, but who never had any intention of affecting anything. I am talking about some of my male colleagues to whom the fortitude and determination of women in their kitchens appeared to provoke some sort of protectionism, if not insecurity. This problem, however, is clearly not only an industry malaise but also one of our society as a whole.

It should not escape anyone who has followed the sports Olympics, that the American women soccer and ice hockey teams rose from virtual obscurity to the enviable position of a world power. The primary reason for their incredible triumphs were the mandates of Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, requiring colleges and universities to provide equal opportunity, support, facilities and scholarships for women as well as for male athletes. Perhaps it is now time for the restaurant and hospitality industry to evoke its own Title IX measure, with the goal to celebrate the achievements of women chefs who, in the absence of support and recognition could easily migrate—lost to other professions or positions in less stressful disciplines more likely found in commercial foodservice, such as healthcare, recreation, government, business and industry, schools and universities, and the like.

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN INFLUENCE

There is no question in my mind that the cooking of African Americans has been and still is an integral part of American cuisine. While its origin, specific dishes and the people who created it and were credited for its development remain partly obscured and unknown because of spotty record-keeping of its growth and influence, the fact still remains that African American cooking has made an indelible impact on the way America eats today.

Perhaps the ascension of African American chefs to the higher ranks may have been slowed by a stereotypical perception that a career in culinary arts was perceived as servitude rather than service. This stigma attached to “service” and its painful reminder of their bondage (forced slavery) may have been the reason that several generations stayed away from a career in foodservice.

All this leaves me to wonder about the impact on American food if African American had, like every other ethnic group, immigrated voluntarily to our shores, instead of the diaspora, which brought them via the slave transports to a strange, if not frightening, land and people, facing forced labor for the rest of their lives? Could it be that their ways, food traditions and signature dishes would have been celebrated along with all the other ethnic foods from around the world? Is it our collective shortcoming not to have given the African American foods and dishes their rightful place among all other illustrious global cuisines?

THE LEGACY OF AMERICAN CUISINE

America seems to have cast aside its collective memory and appreciation of the social, physical and spiritual equilibrium of a balanced family meal, while categorically ignoring the devastating effects of the typical convenience foods we consume today.

A conundrum created by our own government shows, despite the encouraging intervention of several first ladies of the country, food subsidies (determined by lobbyists for big agribusiness) provided to the national school lunch program consisting of cookies, fats, salt and sugar-dominated products, which while not directly poisoning our nation’s youth, did subliminally leave the door ajar, tempting them to join the millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes, obesity and related illnesses. And finally, did American cuisine and its addictive legacy of fast and convenience foods fail the American public? Only time will tell.

EPILOGUE

Having absorbed the incipient stimulation and energy of its reality, American cuisine has infected most of us, with its prospect to rival other global cuisines. Remaining, however is our biggest challenge, to stem the alarming downward trend that minimizes the importance of food as a pleasure-deriving, sustenance-providing, health-promoting and family-coalescing element.

There is, however, the lingering question of the cuisine’s future with respect to its regional or national identity, which at the core of its existence may spark further debates. Here is my take on this. Preserving the regional identity, indigenous ingredients, cooking traditions, ethnicities and cultural rites should remain within the purview of each region, while the requisite skills, passion, respect for the ingredients and the cuisine’s perpetuation become part of a national platform. This said, American cooking, depending on its geographic occurrence and local terroir, is the confluence of both regional and national, thus becoming a union of harmonizing entities all under the umbrella of American Cuisine. Perhaps the title of this book says it all:

FROM MANY – WE ARE ONE