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Even James Beard had difficulty answering the question, "What is American cuisine?" The best he could come up with? "It's when you use ingredients indigenous to the area." See? Difficult. And yet, and yet: A new book, New Currents in American Cuisine, attempts an answer. It's from this book that team manager Keith Keogh draws much of his inspiration.
In November of 1990 we, the new U.S. culinary team selected just six months prior, competed in our first international culinary competition, the World Cup in Luxembourg.
After six months of extensive and intensive practice, we were rewarded by capturing the prestigious Culinary World Cup. We brought the cup back to the United States for the second time in U.S. team history. (The 1986 team won this country's first World Cup.)
Though elated by the recognition, we nevertheless had mixed emotions with regard to our near-perfect performance. Compliments that had been graciously received days prior began to ring louder and a little more off-key in our ears:
"It's too bad all the chefs in the United States can't cook like this."
"With this talent, why is it that Europeans think American cuisine consists solely of hamburgers and pizza?"
As time passed, it became clear that the team might not have accomplished what we set out to do: to represent the chefs and foodservice of the United States and to show the world what makes the food in America the best in the world.
American food Europeanized? We had to admit to ourselves that the American foods we took to Europe for that competition in Luxembourg were prepared in more of a European style than we see on the menus of American restaurants.
Once we realized this, our mission for the next three years was crystal clear. We had to take American foods to Europe, prepare them in an American style, and reflect the flavors and textures that the American people have grown to know and love.
America definitely has its own cuisines and food philosophies. To accurately portray these qualities to an international audience, we had to function not only as chefs, but also culinary investigators. We first had to explore the factors that make American cuisine what it is, then transfer what we learned...