I’ve used these terms interchangeably, not knowing what I was talking about, of course, but also not knowing the difference between the two.
Can anyone explain? And where does haute cuisine fit into the picture?
If I remember right from highschool French, *cuisine * is a feminine noun. To answer your question then, the difference is *nouvelle cuisine * is correct and *nouveau cuisine * is incorrect. Unless I remember wrong, in which case, *vice versa * them.
You remembered right, Lissener. The difference between the two is that “nouveau” cuisine is gramatically incorrect.
“Haute cuisine” translates as “high cuisine”. It refers to any high class, virtuoso cooking style. In French, you can talk about haute cuisine japonaise or haute cuisine italienne, it doesn’t have to be French.
“Nouvelle cuisine” is a term that became popular around the 1970s. As the world changed, people became more and more familiar with various culinary cultures and chefs sought to introduce new ideas, ingredients and techniques to European traditions. Note that nouvelle cuisine still maintains firm roots, unlike fusion, which is a more uniform blend of cultures. Examples of nouvelle cuisine approaches include the introduction of various “exotic” spices, the move from heavier meals to lighter fare with a big emphasis on presentation (inspired by Japanese kaiseki cuisine) and a quest for traditionally unusual combinations.