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The Natural

Want to know what to eat and why? Go ask Alice … Waters, of course.

by Leilani Labong
posted on April 01, 2007

In Alice Waters’ utopia, not only do farmers markets make grocery-store produce aisles obsolete, the deer and the antelope roam freely with the cows and the chickens. Fish farms are figments of our imagination, and kids pick their own vegetables from the backyard. Waters, the 63-year-old proprietor of Chez Panisse in Berkeley—widely considered to be the birthplace of California cuisine—has led the charge for a wholesome approach to eating that includes local, organic and sustainable ingredients, as well as instilling the importance of family and community. “It’s a prescription for health,” says the New Jersey native, who is also the founder of the Edible Schoolyard Program and an organizer of Slow Food Nation, a four-day “celebration of American food” taking place at Fort Mason in May 2008. Her biography, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse (Penguin)—a candid kitchen confidential by Thomas McNamee—hit bookstores last month, and her eighth cookbook, The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, is due out in October. Recently, 7x7 dished with the doyenne of politically correct dining.

Can you forgo your preference for organic food if you want to eat at your local taco stand or curry house?
I’m just particular about what curry house or taco stand I go to. Picante in Berkeley serves organic tortillas, and Breads of India uses organic flour. You pick and choose.

So you’re not 100 percent organic.
How can you possibly be? When I cook at home, I try to cook all-organic, and we do it at the restaurant as much as we can.

Choose one: local or organic.
Right now, I’m very involved with the local. It’s important to me who is growing my produce and what their sets of values are. It’s not so much that it has an organic label.

Is the Edible Schoolyard a realistic option for inner-city schools?
It’s the only option. The Edible Schoolyard is not just a garden plot. I think in the inner city it would turn into a rooftop garden, or edible landscaping up the walls. There are many opportunities for schools that don’t have any land to plant. It’s not just simply fueling up—it’s more meaningful than that.

Why did you authorize a biography?
I thought it would be about the development of Chez Panisse. I thought it might be of interest to people to know that you can start from nothing, but if you’re obsessed and uncompromising, you can be successful.

Is there anything you regret in there?
Only that it’s so much about me.

Have you caved in to any diet trends?
I never would. I think being on a diet means that you’re unhappy in your life.

Ever thought about hosting your own show on the Food Network?
It’s too “foodie” for me. I’m much more interested in talking about food in the context of nature and culture—where food comes from.

What do you think about the current celebrity-chef phenomenon?
I think it’s disempowering. Anyone can be a good cook. We just need to get the basics down.

Basics?
Learning how to shop, for instance. Find a local farmers market. There you come into contact with the farmers and consumers who care—a relationship develops. Shopping is not just about grabbing things off the shelf.

What’s been your greatest contribution?
The idea that we could change education through a course of eco-gastronomy. We have to learn about stewardship of the land. We have to learn about how to nourish ourselves and how to sit at the table and communicate. It’s not happening at home anymore, so we need to teach it in school—it’s vital to our survival on the planet. How can we ignore this?

Does the mother of California cuisine have any praise for the East Coast?
They have the best oysters. Their clams are divine, and obviously their lobsters and the scallops. The waters are colder, and the shellfish just tastes different. Tomatoes also like that humidity—they always taste lusher when they’re from the East Coast.

Any Waters-endorsed food trends?
I find myself wanting to go to these various restaurants that claim they get all the food within 20 miles. Like Manka’s in Inverness. It speaks to what that place was—what it is.

How did you meet Mikhail Baryshnikov?
He came out here a long time ago to perform at Zellerbach Hall. He was friends with some Chez Panisse regulars. He’s only one of two people—the other is Juliette Binoche—I’ve allowed to smoke in the restaurant.

What are your vices?
You mean in terms of food? Because I really console myself by eating and drinking.

Sex, drugs, rock and roll—anything.
All of those things.

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Credits: Platoc, courtesy of Penguin Press HC