In essence, Western Cuisine or Western Food derives its base from French cuisine. Auguste Escoffier’s modernisation of classical French cooking techniques serves as the base of the culinary world today. In particular, his popularisation of the 5 Mother Sauces; sauce béchamel, espagnole, velouté, hollandaise and tomate, are names that every cook and chef should know by heart. In fact, most modern sauces which form western dishes are variations of this fundamental sauce tree.
From its early French beginnings, Western cuisine began to expan by accepting the influences of various European countries, especially Italy and Spain. This introduced a new world of dishes such as pasta, which has since become one of the main components of Werntern cuisine.
Despite its ever-evolving definition, western food does have certain rules that stay true to the classics. Plating, for example, hasn’t changed too drastically. It is still common to see a plate of protein (either meat, fish or poultry) in combination with a starchy side (potatoes, rice or pasta) and some vegetables for a main course. Soups and salads are still served as starters, and the meal still closes with a dessert at the end.
These days, the focus has turned to Nordic countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, for their focus on region-specific ingredients and cuisine. With people getting more involved and interested in where their food comes from, this Nordic trend is impacting western cuisine all around the world with its culinary ideologies and cooking techniques.
From fermenting and pickling produce to curing fish, the definition of western cuisine is once more undergoing a makeover and emerging with a wider range of ingredients, styles and techniques than it had before. Apart from these, technology is also part of reasons to change what western food is. In Unilever Food Solutions, we work hard to develop our products to best serve western food chef the great quality products and ingredients using latest technology. So, if you would like to cook western dishes like professional chefs do worldwide, come check out our products.
