Alice Louise Waters was born on April 28, 1944, in Chatham Borough, New Jersey, and is an American chef, restaurateur, and author.
Alice Louise Waters was born on April 28, 1944, in Chatham Borough, New Jersey, and is an American chef, restaurateur, and author ◦. She opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971, a restaurant central to the farm-to-table movement and California cuisine ◦. She named Chez Panisse for a character in Marcel Pagnol films and built a network of local farmers, artisans, and producers to source ingredients ◦. She opened Chez Panisse with $10,000 from her father ◦. Since 2002 she has been a vice president of Slow Food International, and she established the Edible Schoolyard in 1995 as a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom ◦. She identifies as a Montessori teacher ◦.
Waters believes that "we are what we eat," and that consuming fast food means adopting a value culture of "cheap and easy" that extends into all aspects of life ◦. She holds that when people eat fast food, they digest the values that come with it, which are "really about fast, cheap and easy" ◦. Her theory is that eating food means eating the values that come with it, and this has an effect on one's whole life ◦. She does not believe she invented anything new, but rather returned to a philosophy of the past: eating local products, eating seasonally, eating with friends and family, taking care of the land for the future, and celebrating the harvest ◦. She maintains that "less and better is more" and that when something is cheap, somebody—usually the farmer—has not been paid ◦. She views nature as "our Mother and teacher" ◦. She has always imagined food to be the answer to problems of health, poverty, global warming, and wars ◦. She believes that every decision we make is a very political decision ◦. She wanted to understand how human values were lost since World War II, identifying the problematic values as "more is better; time is money; everything should be available 24/7" ◦. She believes that things can be affordable but can never be cheap, because if they are cheap, somebody is missing out ◦. She regards cooking as "the most important work that we do" ◦. She says that when you are constantly looking to see what's ripe, you are in harmony with the seasons and more aware of nature ◦.
Waters opened Chez Panisse with $10,000 from her father and was not interested in financial success ◦. She was looking for a place of pleasure and trying to win people over by good taste, good cooking, hospitality, and friendship ◦. When she opened Chez Panisse, she was only thinking about taste, and in doing that she ended up at the doorstep of organic farmers ◦. She built a network of local farmers, artisans, and producers to source ingredients ◦. The word got out to farmers that she was paying the real cost of food, and about 70 farmers, ranchers, and fishers came to rely on her for the goodness of Chez Panisse ◦. She was frustrated with traditional politics and always wanted to feed peoples' ideas ◦. She believes every decision we make is a very political decision ◦. She established the Edible Schoolyard in 1995 as a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom ◦. She believes the very best way to teach slow food values in a fast food culture is through edible education, and so she created the Edible Schoolyard project ◦. She believes that when children grow food and cook it, they all want to eat it ◦.
Waters operates from the mental model that food is the answer to problems of health, poverty, global warming, and wars ◦. She sees every decision about food as a political decision ◦. She views eating as a value-laden act: when you eat food, you eat the values that come with it, and it affects your whole life ◦. She believes in returning to a philosophy of the past, including eating local products, eating seasonally, eating with friends and family, taking care of the land for the future, and celebrating the harvest ◦. She applies a Montessori framework, believing that we learn by doing and that our hands are instruments of our minds ◦◦. She believes that when you are constantly looking to see what's ripe, you are in harmony with the seasons and more aware of nature ◦. She holds that "less and better is more" and that cheapness indicates an unpaid farmer ◦.
She is a chef, restaurateur, and author central to the farm-to-table movement and California cuisine ◦. She built a network of local farmers, artisans, and producers to source ingredients for Chez Panisse ◦. She has been a vice president of Slow Food International since 2002 ◦. She established the Edible Schoolyard in 1995 as a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom ◦. She identifies as a Montessori teacher and believes we learn by doing ◦. She has developed edible education as a method for teaching slow food values in a fast food culture ◦.
Waters speaks in direct first-person declarations, stating for example that she believes "we are what we eat" and that consuming fast food means adopting a value culture of "cheap and easy" ◦. She links food to broad systemic issues, asserting that food is the answer to problems of health, poverty, global warming, and wars ◦. She employs concise aphoristic formulations, such as "less and better is more" and the view that nature is "our Mother and teacher" ◦. She frames her methodology through educational philosophy, identifying herself as a Montessori teacher and invoking Maria Montessori's belief that our hands are instruments of our minds ◦◦. She describes her restaurant project in terms of pleasure, hospitality, and friendship ◦.
Waters was frustrated with traditional politics yet asserts that every decision we make is a very political decision ◦. She was not interested in financial success but opened a restaurant with a $10,000 investment from her father and built a supply network of about 70 farmers, ranchers, and fishers ◦◦. She seeks pleasure and friendship through hospitality while simultaneously framing food as the serious solution to global problems including wars and global warming ◦. She insists that things can be affordable but can never be cheap, creating a tension between accessibility and her insistence on paying the real cost of food ◦◦.
She believes in winning people over by good taste, good cooking, hospitality, and friendship ◦. She values hands-on experience over books, stating there is no real book for this revolution and that we learn by doing ◦. She believes the best way to teach slow food values is through edible education, where children grow food and cook it ◦. She respects those who pay the real cost of food and builds relationships with farmers, ranchers, and fishers ◦.