California cuisine is a cuisine marked by an interest in "fusion"— integrating disparate cooking styles and ingredients— and which, influenced by the state's health-conscious tradition, tends to be freshly prepared. The food is typically prepared with particularily strong attention to presentation.

Alice Waters, of the restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is usually credited with originating California cuisine and retains the reputation of offering the ultimate California cuisine experience. Her cuisine emphasizes the freshest ingredients which are in season and are procured solely from local farms.

Wolfgang Puck, from the Spago restaurants, popularized California cuisine by catering high profile celebrity parties such as the Oscar after party. Puck became a celebrity in his own right, one of the first celebrity chefs.

Besides the cooking style, the cuisine is effected by the abundance of fruits and vegetables as the state is one of the major agricultural centers of the United States. Some locally grown produce that are less common in other parts of the country include:

• Avocados
• Artichokes
• fresh figs
• fresh dates
• persimmons

In the northern coastal regions of the state, Dungeness crab is in abundance during the season.

See also

• Cuisine of the United States
• Organic food