BOOKS

A cuisine, in turn from Latin coquere "to cook") is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. Religious food laws, such as Hindu, Islamic and Jewish dietary laws, can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine. Regional food preparation traditions, customs and ingredients often combine to create dishes unique to a particular region.

 

Some of the elements that have an influence on a region's cuisine include the area's climate, which in large measure determines the native foods that are available, the economic conditions, which affect trade and can affect food distribution, imports and exports, and religiousness or sumptuary laws, under which certain foods and food preparations are required or proscribed.

 

Climate also affects the supply of fuel for cooking; a common Chinese food preparation method was cutting food into small pieces to cook foods quickly and conserve scarce firewood and charcoal. Foods preserved for winter consumption by smoking, curing, and pickling have remained significant in world cuisines for their altered gustatory properties even when these preserving techniques are no longer strictly necessary to the maintenance of an adequate food supply.

 

THE CREATIVE REALM'S RECOMMENDED FOOD & DRINK BOOKS

 

1. Kritina Carrillo-Bucaram - The Fully Raw Diet 
2. Gary Taubes - Why We Get Fat  
3. Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation 
4. Jonathan Safran Foer - Eating Animals 
5. Melanie Joy - Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows