A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation traditions, customs and ingredients often combine to create dishes unique to a particular region.
A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade, they can even be made into distinct ingredients themselves when they become popular within a region, take for example Japanese rice in Japanese cuisine and New Mexico chile in New Mexican cuisine.
Religious food laws can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine, such as Hinduism in Indian cuisine, Sikhism in Punjabi cuisine, Buddhism in East Asian cuisine, Islam in Middle Eastern cuisine, and Judaism in Jewish cuisine and Israeli cuisine.