In the late 1980s diners from the San Francisco Bay Area, the birthplace of French-influenced Chez Panisse -- and, from there, the entire New American food revolution -- suddenly became disgustingly health-conscious. The rest of America's restaurants followed. Obsessed with cholesterol and weight, restaurant clientele rejected France's creamy dishes (Julia Child was reduced to defending butter as fiercely as if it were her first-born child) for the olive oil-based cuisine of "the Mediterranean" --... More >>>