nouvelle cuisine

noun

A French approach to cookery, contrasted with "cuisine classique" (classical cuisine), that is typified by its lighter, more delicate dishes and emphasis on presentation.

OriginFrench nouvelle cuisine →
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Meanings

nounnouvelle cuisine (usually uncountable, plural nouvelle cuisines or nouvelles cuisines)

plural nouvelle cuisines · plural nouvelles cuisines

  1. uncountableusuallyA French approach to cookery, contrasted with "cuisine classique" (classical cuisine), that is typified by its lighter, more delicate dishes and emphasis on presentation.

    In case you wonder, no, there is no trace whatsoever of nouvelle cuisine influencing this establishment. It is as impervious to passing fashions as are the strictly protected eighteenth-century buildings which make up most of the Lange Voorhout.

    1988, Alan Davidson, “A Dutch Treat”, in A Kipper With My Tea: Selected Food Essays, London: Macmillan, →ISBN, part one (A Personal Miscellany), page 19

Origin

  1. Frenchnouvelle cuisine“new cuisine”
  2. Englishnouvelle cuisine

Unadapted borrowing from French nouvelle cuisine (“new cuisine”).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nouvelle cuisine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20cuisine

MLA

“nouvelle cuisine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20cuisine. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nouvelle cuisine,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20cuisine.

Source: nouvelle cuisine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.