1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 12

   When I'm not reading books, I'm a professional chef and culinary instructor. Today marks my first day teaching for 2017. For the next 11 weeks, I'm going to be teaching a class of about 20 students European cooking.
    
    With this milestone, I thought I would take a look at the culinary scene in 1977 for today's A Madman Turns 40.

* Chef Jeremiah Tower leaves Alice Water's Chez Panisse to venture out on his own. Many consider this move the beginning of California fusion cuisine which Tower's considered the father of. However, some accounts say Tower left in 1978, so this may or may not be the 40th anniversary of California fusion cooking which is comprised of fresh locally grown ingredients and a marriage of 1 or more culture's cuisines. A Thai Chicken Pizza is an example of this type of cuisine.

You can actually buy first editions on Amazon for not very much money.

*Paul Bocuse, considered the greatest chef of all-time, publishes his first cookbook in English:  Paul Bocuse's French Cooking.

*The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 sets price limits for consumers while allotting farmers the right to meet growing quotas and still obtain federal help. This really benefits peanut farmers in particular. I mention this because the President of the United States at this time was a peanut farmer too (more on this guy next week.)

*1977 was the beginning of a 20 year study of the National Food Consumption Survey. Over 60,000 people were studied annually to determine food portions and calorie consumption. Spoiler Alert: the study found that our appetites got bigger as did our waist sizes as we as Americans were consuming more calories. One thing that surprises the researchers were that it's not just natural born citizens but immigrants as well, who are eating more as time progressed. Data from this study will change dietary recommendations and eating plans for those with diabetes, heart disease, and even eating disorders

* Ruth Graves Wakefield, inventor of the Tollhouse Cookie, the first chocolate chip cookie, passes away in this year.

Poor little snake, cut down in his prime.
What am I say? It's a frickin' snake?!

* I thought this food tidbit was amusing, glam rocker Alice Cooper's pet boa constrictor dies when the rat it was to dine on bites him first and it gets an infection. 

If any of my readers would love to gift me a set of these, please email me.
Donations gladly accepted.

* Burger King sells some really cool glassware depicting scenes from a little know film called Star Wars and they make a killing. During this sale, BK actually outsells McDonald's for the first time.

* Instructional cooking show Gourmet Cooking with Earl Peyroux begins airing in 1977. The show will produce 600 episodes before Peyroux retires in 1995.

1977-2017.

* The California Culinary Academy opens in San Francisco. Now known as Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, the cooing school is scheduled to close in September after operating for EXACTLY 40 years.

  Okay, so one 40th anniversary isn't going to be a good one.

   Hopefully, this isn't a sign as this Madman chef hopes to be around and kicking, I mean cooking, for several more years to come (God willing.) Good eating habits, new trends, high calorie foods, culinary training, healthy appetites, and the beginning of mass merchandising of popular TV shows and movies highlight the world of food and cooking in my favorite year. 

   Oh, I hear the class bell, time to mold some more aspiring cooks into the chefs of tomorrow.

   Bon appetite.