Is There A Definable "Northwest Cuisine"?

TRUE TO THE FOOD
by Ron Paul
(Originally published in the January/February, 2008 issue of Northwest Palate magazine.)

Many ardent foodies question whether or not a defined Pacific Northwest regional cuisine exists. And, if you can define it, then what are its characteristics?

Perhaps we should first understand the basic building blocks that set this region’s cuisine apart: the ingredients. If Bill Clinton were writing about our region’s cooking he would likely proclaim, “It’s the food, stupid.” The New York Times’ motto would be “All the food that’s fit to eat.” And instead of “True to the Music,” Portland’s KINK radio would proclaim “True to the Food.”

It could well be that this sheer abundance of ingredients confuses people about the very existence of Northwest cuisine. After all, it’s easy to summon up the robust flavors and decadent kitchen impulses of Cajun cuisine, the intense heat and smoke of Tex-Mex cooking. New England cooking evokes images of clambakes. California cuisine suggests pyramid-shaped salads with obscure ingredients. Think of Kansas City and the heartland and you’ll lose little time in a fantasy detour to the nearest BBQ joint. American cooking has embraced all of these regional cuisines at one time or another, and they are easy to recollect in our collective gastronomic imaginations.

So what is it about Pacific Northwest cooking that’s so hard to pin down?

The quality, diversity, and abundance of local ingredients separate this region’s culinary identity from others in the country. The ethnic and cultural accents of cooking are less important than patiently allowing the pristine flavors of these regional ingredients to emerge. The best restaurant chef and the humble home cook, regardless of background or the methods used to prepare any particular dish, stand on an equal footing in this food environment.

Michelangelo once responded to the question of how he sculpted the Pieta, “The form was in the stone and I just chipped away the excess.” An apt metaphor for Cascadian cooking. The art of cooking in this culinary habitat differs from the technique-driven and spice-centric cuisines of other parts of the country. Here there are fewer formulae and more emphasis on understanding—you might say listening to—the ingredients at hand and proceeding with their essence in mind. The roster of those ingredients is so well known: the seafood, cheeses, fruits and vegetables, herbs, meats, mushrooms, truffles, etc. Think of each ingredient as having a voice, either solo or in concert with others, that only requires a sensitive “ear” to assemble.

If the cuisine of this region is ingredient-driven, then Pacific Northwest cooking requires that we have direct, year-round access to this region’s wonderful ingredients.

Take Portland, for instance. The bounty that surrounds this city has always determined its diet. With fertile valleys, two riversheds, and nearby ocean, mountains, and rangelands, Portland has never lacked for pristine foods at their freshest.

Portland’s rich history of markets dates to its founding, delivering this diverse palette of foods to Portland kitchens. By 1872 the New Market Theatre building on Ankeny Square housed a unique one-stop shopping destination: a food-centric market on the ground floor (with an extensive oyster selection) and a burlesque hall above. In the early 20th century, Southwest Yamhill Street, spanning First to Fifth avenues, supported hundreds of merchants on a daily basis. The largest public market in North America opened along the Willamette River seawall in 1933 but succumbed to City Hall corruption and land speculation just eight years later. Since then, Portland has been without a full-time, year-round market, although the region’s vibrant network of seasonal farmers’ markets is one element in maintaining the connection to our edible geography and history.

Currently, there are many ways customers intersect with local foods. Think of a continuum that extends from farm-stands, U-pick fields, and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture, in which shareholders subscribe to a farm’s produce) to farmers’ markets, co-ops, and public markets. From there, the spectrum of choices continues to those supermarkets making herculean efforts to showcase local producers, as well as chain grocers whose rhetoric may not match their performance, but they still try. Even the warehouse stores are beginning to decentralize their purchasing to include more local foods. All these efforts help develop a broader, indigenous food culture.

In other parts of the country, to say that you’re lacking a defined cuisine would suggest a cultural deficiency of immense proportions—almost unheard of anywhere else. Just imagine how the Deep South or the Southwest would weather that blow! But here in the Pacific Northwest, defining cuisine as a style of cooking misses the key point: it’s all about the ingredients and our ability to coax these amazing raw materials to new heights.

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Ron Paul is co-founder of the Historic Portland Public Market Foundation, which is seeking to establish the James Beard Public Market, a year-round marketplace in Portland for regional farm products.