Culinary Arts, Essay Example

Abstract

This essay will demonstrate how styles in cuisine began as isolated classifications, according to country of ethnicity on the Eastern hemisphere.  Moreover, when the Western hemisphere began to develop years later, a composite occurred, since citizens had the advantage to pick-and-choose amongst educated and developed styles before choosing the best of his or her choice.

Introductions

Related careers in Culinary Arts include several positions, including the careers that are taught in colleges and trade schools right alongside several that are not.  For example, a dishwasher or waitress would not need to be educated in Culinary Arts school.  In culinary arts schools, students learn the basics of food science, nutrition, chemistry and food production, though, more than customer service and hospitality.

For example, the expeditor or person responsible for garnishing the plates before sending them out to the restaurant table with the waiter or waitress would be considered a related career in culinary arts, while the main chef or head cook watching over the ovens and friers would also be a career in culinary arts.  This is an example of the the broad array of jobs in the industry.  However, my focus will be strictly on the foods that are served; in particular, the nativities of the varying categories of cuisine (McBride, Kate. ed. The Professional Chef, 8th ed., Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.).

In culinary arts schools, the student will spend great amounts of time studying the chemical reactions that take place when a certain ingredient is heated, boiled or frozen, and how that will affect the total outcome of the dish.  This essay, however, will focus on the actual product, the types of food that are commonly served, and the distinguishing characteristics of each type (Diane P. Tuccillo, Mesa Public Library, AZ  Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.).

The applicable related careers in Culinary Arts vary according to the type of food served are what can be completely different also.  For example, a consumer would not expect to find a sushi chef in a Chinese restaurant.    Therefore, a Japanese sushi chef would be a completely different job than a Chinese white-rice boiler (soy).  For another example, a customer would not expect to look on any reflection of Le Cordon Bleu (“the blue ribbon” in French) within a Caribbean restaurant.  In this essay, I will place focus on the term according to the type of food served, alongside some native characteristics of each (Caribbean Food Encyclopedia. Article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.  HYPERLINK “http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean” http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean. Web. 15 November 2011).

Body

A culinarion is the person responsible for skillfully and visually creating a plate of food that tastes as good as it looks.  Unless spoken by a professional in the field or a student of culinary arts, Culinarion is an outdated term.  Currently a culinarion is recognized by the title of cook, or chef, or in some settings a food preparer, or sous-chef, short-order cook, cordon bleu cook, informal cookie, possibly a pastry chef, or even chef de cuisine.  Cook and chef are by far the most used terms (Caribbean Food Encyclopedia. Article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.  HYPERLINK “http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean” http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean. Web. 15 November 2011).

“Culinary Arts” is also a science, because the culinarion is required to have a knowledge of the science of food and an understanding of diet and nutrition. These five pages of clarity and definitions would be the most persuasive manner by which to signify the qualities of each (Diane P. Tuccillo, Mesa Public Library, AZ  Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.).

Nativity, Food types:

First off, Chinese food and Japanese food are not the same type of food.  Sushi is Japanese, or native to Japan.  Anything under the title of Zhe or Zhejiang is Chinese, or native to China.  Dishes featuring white rice are Chinese; rice with egg, green peas, and thinly sliced ham are Japanese. Also, Chifa, Filipino, Pakistani, Szechuan cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, or Korean dishes are Chinese in origin.  Yellow bean sauce or yellow wine sauce means the preparation is Chinese. However, when referring to a type of food as a type of Ramen (noodles and broth), the dish could be either Japanese or Chinese.  Chuka directly means Chinese-style Japanese food, or in some cases is regarded as Japanese-style Chinese food (McBride, Kate. ed. The Professional Chef, 8th ed., Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.).

Indian foods would indeed indicate an Asian cuisine, but when one says Asian foods, what typically comes to mind are the food styles as stated in the previous paragraph.  When a person says a dish featuring lentils or curry, though, we immediately know that person is talking about Indian foods (Miller, Hanna. American Pie. American Heritage Encyclopedia. 2006.).  “Hindu beliefs and culture have played an influential role in the evolution of Indian cuisine” (Steward. Books.google.com. ISBN 9788125003250. Web. 15 November 2011).  This explains why the thousands of recipes available, though tastefully articulate, revolve around what seems like the same two dozen ingredients (Hanna Miller, American Pie. American Heritage Encyclopedia. 2006).

Regarding foods of the West coast, however, foods tend to bring on a greater variety of nativities.  For instance, pizza was initially recognized as an Italian food, but did not gain the notoriety as being a fast food enterprise until it took off in the United States.  In fact, the health benefits of pizza did not become surpassed by the health criticisms until the fast-food explosion of this past forty years (Hanna Miller, American Pie. American Heritage Encyclopedia. 2006).

For another example, Caribbean foods are a combination of African, Indian, American Indian, or Amerindian, right alongside Chinese, Dutch, French, East Indian, and Spanish styles of cooking (Caribbean Food Encyclopedia. Article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.  HYPERLINK “http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean” http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean. Web. 15 November 2011). Evidently, since the majority of these Asian cultures have recipes and the like dating back 5000 years or more, and the recorded cultures of the Western hemisphere dates back merely hundreds of years, of course the recipes seem a more worldly combination of these cooking styles.

Caribbean cuisine follows a similar thematic as the Northern American Nations.  However, Rice and Beans — arroz y habas, arroz con habichuelas, arroz con frijoles, arroz e feijão or feijão com arroz (Spanish), diri ak pwa in Haitian Creole (Portuguese), Avas kon arroz or Avikas kon arroz (Judaeo-Spanish) — seem almost like a brand created throughout the Caribbean, and  the Central and into the Southern American nations, like Brazilian cuisine; Mexico would be the only Northern American country where rice and beans is observed as basically a staple to the diet.  Mediterranean styles, however, featuring Italian-Spanish and Arabic methodologies, tend to dominate more Southern American nations the father south one travels.

Conclusion

In conclusion, though there are several obscure careers relative to culinary arts, the focal part of this art — the food — is relative to several different domains.  However, the more Eastern one travels (namely Asian nations, for this account), the more native and localized the tastes and flavors will seem.  When one heads north-west or south-west, however, several separate nativities within the food spectrum begin to be discovered.

Sources Cited

McBride, Kate, ed. The Professional Chef / the Culinary Institute of America, 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, INC, 2006.

Le Cordon Bleu: A Brief History; correlates to accounts in the school’s introductory text of Le Cordon Bleu at Home and other books.

Caribbean Food Encyclopedia. Article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.  HYPERLINK “http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean” http://www.ifood.tv/network/caribbean. Web. 15 November 2011.

Beal, Eileen. Choosing a career in the restaurant industry. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1997.

Steward. Books.google.com. ISBN 9788125003250. Web. 15 November 2011.

Burns, E. Bradford A History of Brazil. Columbia University Press, 1993, p. 38.

Li & Y. Hsieh. Traditional Chinese Food Technology and Cuisine. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004.

“Mizo Cuisine in India.” India9.com. 2005-06-07. Web. 14 November 2011.

Miller, Hanna. American Pie. American Heritage Encyclopedia. 2006.

Institute for Research. Careers and jobs in the restaurant business: jobs, management, ownership. Chicago: The Institute, 1977.