Food Culture Analyzed _




Greater Food Culture

05.17.2011
        
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<strong>Rick Bayless</strong> (Frontera Grill) has done more than any other chef to introduce Americans to authentic Mexican cuisine and to change the image of Mexican food in America with an anthropological approach and commitment to sustainable ingredients. <strong>Marcus Samuelsson</strong> is best known for culinary work with Scandinavian cuisine, the Ethiopian-born, Scandinavian-raised chef and cookbook author is now cooking his rendition of soul food in his Harlem neighborhood at Red Rooster. Chef <strong>John Besh</strong> has championed a renewed appreciation of local Cajun and Creole cooking, considering them essential to the survival of New Orleans cultural heritage and leading the charge for his city’s culinary recovery. <strong>Susan Feniger</strong> (Border Grill, Street) has been a longtime advocate of authentic regional cuisines, with restaurants focused on authentic Mexican fare, and now global street food. Forbes has dubbed her “a pioneer" in a roundup of leading women in the restaurant world. Regarded as the world authority on Indian food, <strong>Madhur Jaffrey</strong> offers an Asian-centered complement to Deborah Madison's European-focused Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. <strong>Daniel Boulud</strong> is consistently lauded as one of the most exceptional French chefs cooking in America today. He served as the executive chef at the world famous Le Cirque before opening Restaurant Daniel and is now a member of France's prestigious Relais and Chateau Association. <strong>Jean-Georges Vongerichten</strong> was one of the first to marry Asian and French culinary principles with accessible elegance, earning him three Michelin stars and four stars from The New York Times. <strong>Joel Robuchon</strong> is considered the most influential in moving French cuisine away from the nouvelle movement, and solidifying “cuisine actuelle,” which focuses on highlighting each individual ingredient. His decadent mashed potato recipe is routinely copied by chefs and home cooks alike. His 25 restaurants boast 14 Michelin stars between them, and he has inspired a whole generation of culinary empire builders. France’s most famous chef, <strong>Alain Ducasse’s</strong> empire includes 22 restaurants from Tokyo to Paris. Creative, neurotic and foul-mouthed, <strong>David Chang</strong> has been widely praised for his bold cooking style, which combines Asian and American ingredients, practiced French technique and subtle use of postmodern experimentation. <strong>Nobu Matusuhisa</strong>, a Japanese sushi chef, found himself in Peru, where he was challenged by a new culture and regional ingredients, sparking his inventive cuisine found at Nobu, which he co-owns with actor Robert De Niro. <strong>Norman Van Aken</strong> (Norman’s) is the face behind New World Cuisine, the fusion of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African and American, putting South Florida on the international culinary map. Founder and CEO of Chipotle, <strong>Steve Ells</strong> has revolutionized fast food with his progressive vision that food doesn’t have to be low quality and that delicious food doesn’t have to be expensive. The outspoken chef whose fame has had more to do with sharp wit than kitchen skill, <strong>Anthony Bourdain</strong> is recognized around the world for his renegade culinary stories, while his raucous comments have become the religion of guerrilla chefs everywhere. <strong>Wolfgang Puck</strong>, both a chef and a brand, created a completely new style of cuisine by mixing classical French techniques along with Asian and California influences using the highest quality ingredients, igniting the fresh revolution in the US. Cheese mogul and owner of Murray’s Cheese Shop, <strong>Rob Kaufelt</strong> brings excellent cheese to the masses. His latest venture has him partnering with the Kroger supermarket chain and opening Murray’s Cheese kiosks inside their grocery stores. <strong>Todd English</strong> (Olives) has followed in the footsteps of Wolfgang Puck, by creating a brand via fresh, high-quality Mediterranean food, with 13 restaurants nationwide as well as his foray into airport quick-service restaurants. <strong>Howard Schultz</strong>, the founder and CEO of Starbucks Corporation, completely reimagined the world of coffee by presenting it as far more than a commodity, but as an experience through coffee theatre and the ultimate Third Place. <strong>Joel Dean</strong> and <strong>Giorgio Deluca</strong>, founders of Dean & DeLuca, a store that redefined the fancy food market and edited America's pantry and instigated a minor revolution in the culinary abyss of the ‘70s. Trader Joe’s founder, <strong>Joe Coulombe</strong> created a revolutionary small foot-print grocery store in 1958, aimed at appealing to the overeducated and underpaid who continue to enjoy the store’s offer of treasure and discovery. <strong>Gary Hirshberg</strong> and his $340 million organic yogurt empire, Stonyfield Farm, is an industry leader and a driving force in the sustainable food movement. <strong>Gene Kahn</strong> founded the pioneering organic brand Cascadian Farm, among the first to bring high-quality, frozen and canned organic products to American consumers. The duo behind the original playful and high-quality ice cream, <strong>Ben Cohen</strong> and <strong>Jerry Greenfield</strong> (Ben & Jerry’s) found a way to combine profitability with social responsibility, creating a progressive new approach to employee management, and built one of the largest ice cream empires in the world. <strong>Harold McGee</strong> writes about the chemistry, technique and history of food and cooking. He examines and often debunks conventional kitchen wisdom and has written two seminal books on kitchen science. The Food Network show Good Eats lures more than 20 million viewers a month, thanks to <strong>Alton Brown’s</strong> quirky humor, geeky insights and DIY ethos. Brown, who also writes and directs each episode, brings those same traits to his James Beard Foundation Award-winning cookbooks. <strong>Charlie Trotter</strong>, an eight-time recipient of the James Beard Award, has written several best-selling cookbooks based on classical cuisine and modern vegetable cuisine at his Chicago restaurant, Charlie Trotter’s. The inspiration behind the original DIY movement, <strong>Martha Stewart’s</strong> media empire include two magazines, a recipe publication, television show, a syndicated newspaper column, a series of how-to books, a radio show, and an Internet site. Her first book became the best-selling cookbook since Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. <strong>James Beard</strong> is considered the father of American-style gourmet cooking. His legacy lives on in 20 books, numerous writings, his own foundation and his foundation's annual Beard awards in various culinary genres. <strong>Ferran Adrià</strong>, the ultimate culinary genius who made Spain’s El Bulli the most famous restaurant in the world with his bespoke iconoclastic creativity. <strong>José Andres</strong> has introduced Americans to both avant-garde and traditional Spanish cooking and is hailed as the hero of the Spanish food boom in America. Orange-clogged <strong>Mario Batali</strong> revolutionized Italian cuisine in America by combining traditional Italian principles with intelligent culinary adventure in his empire of 17 restaurants, including New York City’s homage to Italia in the massive Eataly. <strong>Tom Douglas</strong> helped define Pacific Northwest cuisine. His creativity with local ingredients and his respect for Seattle’s ethnic traditions have earned his 12 restaurants a place on the national culinary map. <strong>René Redzep</strong>i has pioneered a cuisine dubbed "New Nordic." Since opening Noma in 2003, the chef has worked culinary miracles, while adhering to a stringent locavore ethos. <strong>Ryan Magarian</strong>, a master mixologist, is on a mission to revolutionize cocktail culture by approaching cocktail construction like cooking, using only the freshest, most seasonal and high-quality ingredients with classical foundations with updates twists. UK chef, <strong>Fergus Henderson</strong> (St. John’s) is known for his love of offal based on his philosophy of nose-to-tail eating and for revitalizing English cooking using high-quality British ingredients. <strong>Dan Barber</strong> (Blue Hill at Stone Barns) strives to create a consciousness around everyday food choices and a new ecological approach to cuisine. In 2009 he was named one of the world's most influential people in Time’s annual "Time 100." <strong>Alice Waters</strong> (Chez Panisse, Edible Schoolyard) is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy advocating for a food economy that is “good, clean and fair.” During his years at Whole Foods, <strong>John Mackey</strong> has gone from hippie to Libertarian, from crunchy shopkeeper to CEO of an $8 billion retail behemoth, touting conscious capitalism and bringing the ultimate retail food theatre to the consumer. The incomparable French food authority, <strong>Patricia Wells</strong> has brought the food of Paris and Provence to American cooks through her cookbooks, writings and cooking school. She was the first woman and only foreigner to have served as a restaurant critic for the French publication L’Express. Young but well-seasoned chef, <strong>Blaine Wetzel</strong> is building a locavore's Eden at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island in Washington State. Wetzel is a dedicated locavore who is part artist, part ethnobotonist, part exquisitely skilled technician. While her exceptional writing recounts her meandering life and tales from the kitchen, <strong>Gabrielle Hamilton</strong> runs the widely adored East Village eatery, Prune, known for its eccentric American menu based loosely on her French mother’s tastes. <strong>Matthew Dillon</strong> (Corson Building, Sitka & Spruce) brings people together through his commitment to food and its direct connection to celebration, community and culture. His style of communal dining and use of hyper-local products brings a new perspective to Sharing at the Table. <strong>Molly Katzen</strong> (Founder of Moosewood Café) is largely credited with moving vegetarian food from the fringe to the center of the American dinner plate, with her whimsical cookbooks based on the restaurant and latest consumer packaged goods line available in supermarkets. <strong>Ari Weinzweig</strong>, the co-founder of Zingerman's Delicatessen, represents the Gold Standard in customer service and has written the Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating. Over the past six decades <strong>Saul Zabar</strong> has helped turn the upper West Side shop founded by his parents, Zabar’s, into an international destination known for its smoked fish, and some of the country's first gourmet coffee beans. <strong>Andrew Carmellini</strong> (Locanda Verde, Dutch) terms his style of cuisine “American cooking with New York soul.” He’s done French. He’s done Italian. Next up for the classically trained chef: American food without boundaries. <strong>Nancy Silverton</strong> opened LA’s La Brea Bakery in 1989, selling it to become one of the first high-quality par baked baguettes available at supermarkets nationwide. Silverton is now at the helm of Mario Batali’s Mozza and its famed made-fresh-daily mozzarella bar. American pastry luminary, <strong>Johnny Iuzzini</strong> is turning the notion of sweet treat on its head with his postmodern creativity that’s carefully balanced by his classic pastry training. The rockstar butcher behind the haute burger craze, <strong>Pat LaFrieda</strong> owns and operates New York City's most prestigious meat packing facility. Selling to Manhattan's finest restaurants as well as creating over 50 custom hamburger blends, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors is synonymous with immense flavor and quality. As the long time chef of Greens, San Francisco’s initial higher end vegetarian restaurant, <strong>Deborah Madison</strong> is best known for her writings on meat-free recipes and techniques beloved by meat eaters and vegetarians alike. British-born <strong>April Bloomfield</strong> started as a dishwasher in England and worked her way up to running one of NYC's hardest-to-get-into hits, the Spotted Pig, known for its classic gastro-pub cuisine. <strong>Steve Raichlen</strong> is best known as the man who reinvented barbecue. Raichlen wrote the multi-award-winning, best-selling Barbecue Bible cookbook series. Williams-Sonoma's culinary legacy began when <strong>Chuck Williams</strong> opened his original cookware shop in Sonoma, California. Offering classic French kitchen equipment many Americans had never seen before, the store soon gained the patronage of dedicated home cooks and professional chefs alike. <strong>Heston Blumenthal</strong> is the chef-owner of the postmodern restaurant, The Fat Duck in the UK. Intrigued by the scientific approach to cooking, Heston examines how food affects smell and taste on the palate, the senses, the memory and the emotions. <strong>Thomas Keller</strong> (French Laundry, Per Se) is America’s favorite avant-garde chef. He is known for taking the familiar, inverting it, and making it his own. <strong>Grant Achatz</strong> (Alinea) is considered America's most unusual, provocative, challenging and entertaining postmodern chefs. Tools used to create such culinary alchemy have led Achatz to lab-equipment manufacturers, CPG conventions and the humble hardware store. <strong>Homaru Cantu</strong> (Moto) is best known for his “edible paper” and for defeating Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in a battle with beets, where he used liquid nitrogen to create “beet balloons.” <strong>Wylie Dusfresne</strong> (wd~50), a leading proponent of molecular gastronomy, is known for creating critically acclaimed dishes like fried mayonnaise and a foie gras that can be tied into a knot through use of hydrocolloids. Former Microsoft CTO, <strong>Nathan Myhrvold</strong> is the mastermind behind Modernist Cuisine, a six-volume 2,400-page cookbook with a price tag of $625. Dedicated to the science of cooking, many say the work will reinvent cooking as we know it. <strong>Will Allen</strong>, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers on agriculture and food policy. Will is considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. <strong>Michelle Obama</strong> is behind the blog Obama Foodorama and focuses on White House Food Initiatives. The first First Lady to garner more attention for her edible White House garden than even her style of dress. <strong>Mark Bittman’s</strong> mission is to get people cooking simply, comfortably and well. The New York Times food columnist and cookbook author is known for his “vegan before 6” method of eating more consciously. <strong>Jamie Oliver</strong> has come a long way since his debut as the Naked Chef. From his televised Food Revolution to improving school lunches and providing culinary opportunities for at-risk youth, his goal to empower families to cook again is truly inspiring. Teacher and author, <strong>Marcella Hazan</strong> is credited with introducing Americans to true Italian cooking. Beyond red sauce and meatballs, Hazan was the first to bring polenta, risotto and the likes of tender squid to the American kitchen. Few people reflect and report more astutely on the state of American food than <strong>Michael Pollan</strong>. Beginning with his fascination with plant cultivation, Pollan has become a mixture of reporter and prophet, documenting the state of American food and warning of the consequences if we don't change our ways. <strong>Joel Salatin</strong>, America’s most influential farmer, is the self-described environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer profiled in Food, Inc. who practices an innovative farming system where the animals live according to their "ness." As consultant to fishermen and farmers, <strong>Jon Rowley</strong> has quietly become one of the country's premier tastemakers, guiding the revival of the Olympia oyster market, starting the craze over Copper River salmon and perfecting the distribution of the perfect peach. <strong>Bill Niman</strong>, the natural meat pioneer, built a $65 million empire on a simple idea that revolutionized the food world - that meat could be raised naturally, humanely and sustainably, better for people and the planet. Reminiscent of food writer M.F.K. Fisher, <strong>Molly Wizenberg's</strong> blog reads like a collection of poetic essays dedicated to flavor, food, and cooking. Consistently rated as one of the world’s top food blogs, Orangette continues to attract readers and proves the blog is a powerful culinary communication tool. <strong>Lynne Rosetta Kasper</strong> is the voice behind The Splendid Table, public radio's culinary program that celebrates food; the culture, the science, the history, and the deeper meanings that come together every time people sit down to enjoy a meal. As president of the Food Network, <strong>Brooke Johnson</strong> understands the power of turning food into entertainment. She was elevated in 2010 to head the entire food category at Scripps, including Food Network, Cooking Channel, Foodnetwork.com, Cooking Channel TV.com, Food2.com and Recipezaar.com. James Beard award winner and “Top Chef” head judge, <strong>Tom Colicchio</strong> is the first restaurant chef to truly break into prime time. Before she took the helm at the now closed Gourmet, media maven <strong>Ruth Reichl</strong> won two James Beard Awards for her work as restaurant critic for The New York Times. Reichl continues to push culinary boundaries with her memoirs, cookbooks and television shows. <strong>Rachael Ray</strong> is most famous for popularizing the 30-minute meal concept through books and a Food Network show, then jumping into super-stardom as a television personality and magazine editor. America’s first celebrity chef, <strong>Julia Child</strong>, single-handedly changed the way we think about food in the US. With a dozen cookbooks to her credit and untold hours of delightful television shows, she demonstrated her mastery of French cooking with unparalleled grace and ease. Truck food zeitgeist, <strong>Mike Manguera</strong> enlisted friends and family to begin blogging, branding and Twittering on his behalf. The result: The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck, spawning a cyber-hippie movement referred to as "Kogi kulture." Under the Zen guidance of <strong>Eric Ripert</strong>, Le Bernadin (NYC) is often referred to as the Temple of Seafood.

In the spirit of celebrating contemporary food culture, this subway-style map is intended to serve as a snapshot of the main actors, techniques, values and ideas representing today’s culinary zeitgeist. From chefs and the media, to packaged goods and food politics, these “stops” are suggestive of the people, places and things that have influenced the food world (some more directly than others), thereby becoming part of our Greater Food Culture. Take a ride on the Modern Line, stopping off at Thomas Keller and then maybe head onto the Global Line, paying a visit to David Chang. Wherever you go, you’re likely to learn a bit, be entertained and most certainly eat quite well.

Take your cursor along each line to hover over the stops for more detail.

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