"While I do not overlook the grotesqueries of American cooking, I believe we have a rich and fascinating food heritage that occasionally reaches greatness in its own melting pot way. After all, France created French cuisine over centuries, and I daresay some of it was purely experimental cookery. Italian, Austrian, and Scandinavian cookery, as well, has had generations of change and tradition. We are barely beginning to sift down into a cuisine of our own."

From American Cookery by James Beard. Copyright (c) 1972 by James A. Beard. By permission of Little, Brown and Company.