Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Californian, citing local farms and introducing specialty organics from (where else?) Cali-
fornia.
CALIFORNIA COOKING CLASSES
Learn how to make California's signature dishes at home, with chefs sharing their culin-
ary secrets in workshops and classes. Some high-end cookware shops such as
Williams-
Sonoma
(
www.williams-sonoma.com
) and
Sur la Table
(
www.surlatable.com
) also offer
casual introductory cooking classes.
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
(
http://enthusiasts.ciachef.edu
)
Cheese School of San Francisco
(
www.cheeseschoolsf.com
)
Relish Culinary Adventures
(
www.relishculinary.com
)
Cavallo Point Cooking School
(
www.cavallopoint.com
)
Shed
(
www.healdsburgshed.com
)
Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School
(
www.ramekins.com
)
310-231-4499;
www.sushi-academy.com
; 11310 Nebraska Ave; 3hr
class $80-85)
Global Fusion Cooking
Beyond its exceptionally rich farmland dirt, California has another culinary advantage: an
experimental attitude toward food that dates from its Wild West days. Most mid-19th-cen-
tury Gold Rush miners were men not accustomed to cooking for themselves, which resul-
ted in such doomed mining-camp experiments as jelly omelets. But the era also introduced
California to Cantonese-style dim sum and the US's first Italian restaurant, which opened
in San Francisco in 1886.
Some 150 years later, fusion is not a fad but second nature in California, where chefs
can hardly resist adding international twists to local flavors, with creative infusions from
new immigrant communities. Menus often infuse ingredients and kitchen craft borrowed
from neighbors across the Pacific in Asia, from south of the border all across Latin Amer-
ica and from Europe's distant Mediterranean, where the climate and soil are similar to
California's.
Keep in mind that California once belonged to Mexico, and Latinos today make up al-
most 40% of the state's population. Californian takes on Mexican classics remain go-to
