Designing a local cuisine
Cuisines are a combination of ingredients, techniques, and traditions influenced by climate, geography, history, and culture.
Does the Pacific Northwest have a distinct cuisine?
In some ways it’s fairly difficult to pinpoint what Pacific Northwestern cuisine is. The general consensus seems to focus on the use of regional ingredients. Unlike French or Japanese food, we don’t have a tradition of dishes and techniques that can truly be attributed to our region. I believe this is mostly due to our history, since the region was colonized by American settlers fairly late in US history, and very close to the period when industrialized food took over American eating habits. Industrialization brought about a homogenization and standardization of food across the country. The result is that food regionalized less here than it might have in earlier times, and it can be difficult to agree on what dishes are most typical of our area - most are general to the cuisine of the US. Instead, choice of ingredients seems to play a larger role in setting the region’s food apart, and I would consider it the fundamental characteristic of the Pacific Northwest’s cuisine as it currently stands.
Why design our local cuisine?
In the previous article, I talked about the benefits of cooking locally and seasonally, those being primarily focused around the environment and the community. Without a longstanding regional culinary tradition, we are left with an opportunity to design it to include those benefits at its core.
With this in mind, I’ve chosen to take a deep dive on ingredients and look at both those which are already well-known our region, as well as new ingredients that offer us culinary possibilities. I am also trying to pay homage to the many cultures that call the Northwest home by learning about and incorporating the cuisines I encounter in Portland into my cooking. We live in a global era, and we’ve been exposed to food from around the world. It only makes sense to take those influences into account.
To find these ingredients, and to incorporate diverse cuisines, I’ve looked at the climate and geography of our region, at similar regions around the world, and at the influences and preferences that shape our culture. I hope this framework of information can serve to push the Pacific Northwest’s cuisine forward, and I hope it can be useful to other chefs in the region with similar goals.
