California is a mecca for gourmands with its rich agricultural lands, wealth of vineyards and great choice of international cuisine. When you take this mixture of cultures, add an amazing range of home-grown agricultural products and bring in world-class chefs, you get an incredibly diverse and delectable outcome.

The term "California Cuisine" has, for years been bantered about, co-opted by every ambitious chef from Miami to Phoenix, and by this point rendered meaningless. So it’s time for a new definition: California Cuisine is food that is fresh, local, organic and always innovative and is reckoned to have been born at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

With all the bounty from its soil and sea, it’s no wonder the Golden State has also been a leader in introducing new types of cuisine. America’s oldest Italian restaurant, Fior d’Italia, opened in San Francisco’s North Beach in 1886; the Popsicle was born in Oakland in 1905; and hot fudge sundaes and fortune cookies first appeared in 1906 and 1916 in Los Angeles. More recently the designer-pizza was created by celebrated chef Wolfgang Puck at Spago, his Beverly Hills restaurant.

California is also an epicentre to the sustainable wine and food movement. Tours such as Livin’ La Vida Locavore in Santa Barbara and Sustainable Vine Tours in the Santa Ynez Valley offer you a great opportunity to experience this first hand. Meanwhile initiatives such as the Seafood Watch sustainable seafood programme in Monterey County can advise you which fish to eat at certain times of year to ensure that natural stocks remain stable. Health conscious visitors can also find out about how foods can limit the effects of pollution, stress, and other detrimental factors in the environment at places like West Hollywood’s Tea and Herbal Emporium and at Living Light workshops in Fort Bragg.

One way to really get a feel for California cuisine is to take a walking tour of a section of one of the major cities, such as San Francisco (Chinatown or the Italian restaurants of North Beach) and San Diego (Little Italy and the Asian neighbourhoods). Or head for the wine-growing regions, such as Sonoma or Mendocino Counties, Santa Barbara or the Napa Valley, home to the renowned French restaurant, where restaurants pair up their food with local wines.  

Alternatively, you can take a cooking course to learn how to prepare food, California style. The courses vary, as does the length of time you would have to spend on one – from one day to longer-term stays. Among the San Francisco offerings are Tante Marie’s Cooking School, the California Culinary Academy and Wok Wiz, which combines a walking tour of Chinatown with a participatory cooking demonstration. Sonoma County adds the following names to the list – Ramekins, Patty James and the Relish Cooking School while the Napa Valley options include COPIA: the American Centre for Wine, Food & the Arts and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.