European cuisine

European cuisine

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European cuisine

A collective definition of European cuisine, or alternatively Western cuisine is a generalized nomenclature for people especially from South, East and Southeast Asian countries referring collectively to the cuisines of Western countries including Europe, Russia, North America, and Australasia, Oceania, and Latin America. This term is rarely used in the West except in the context of contrasting with Asian styles of cooking.^[1] It is analogous to Westerners referring collectively the cuisines of Asian countries as Asian cuisine.

The cuisines of Western countries are diverse by themselves, although there are common characteristics that distinguishes Western cooking from cuisines of Asian countries.^[2] Compared with traditional cooking of Asian countries, meat is more prominent and substantial in serving, and Westerners traditionally have a far more in depth knowledge concerning specific methods of preparing and serving different cuts of meat than Asians.^[3] Steak in particular is a common dish across the West. Western cuisines also put substantial emphasis on sauce as condiments, seasonings, or accompaniments due to the difficulty of seasonings penetrating larger pieces of meat used in cooking. Plenty of dairy products are utilized in the cooking process, except for the nouvelle cuisine days.^[4] Spices are more prominent than many East and Southeast Asian cuisines due to the heavy use of meat,^[5] while carbohydrate staples play a more minor role.

Restaurants advertised to be specializing in generic Western cuisine in Asia tend to have menus containing a mixture of dishes mainly from France, the English-speaking world, and Germany. Since the early 1990s dishes from Italy and Spain have become more prominent on these restaurants' menus.