Little-Known Facts About Alice Waters

In the last 10 to 20 years, it seems like farm-to-table restaurants have popped up in every corner of the United States. The rustic yet chic restaurants promise fresh eating sourced from local farms and seasonal ingredients to any hungry guest who steps through their doors. Sure, maybe this could be written off as some passing trend, but lifestyle companies like Riise believe that farm-to-table transcends contemporary fashion. The organization points to the food movement as representative of a larger reassessment of culture with climate change in mind. In that sense, the slow food movement — think of it as the antithesis of fast food — could very well represent the future of eating while also getting back to basics.

While the food philosophy of local ingredients prepared well and used seasonally may seem obvious as can be, it can be traced back, in the mainstream at least, to California cuisine. As defined by Masterclass, this style of cooking is defined not only by seasonality and freshness, but also by locality and creativity with said ingredients. Simply put, California is known for taking the resources it has at hand and preparing them to the best and healthiest extent that they can be. In this sense, there is no better representative of California cuisine, and the farm-to-table movement, than chef Alice Waters, who is often credited with being the pioneer, if not founder, of the movement.

In between college graduation and her later career as a chef, Alice Waters became a teacher for a short period of time. As noted by the chef herself in an excerpt of her book reprinted in The Guardian, she concedes that she was unsure of what to do with her life. She enjoyed her food column and had a dream of starting a French bistro but admitted that opening a restaurant felt impossible. 

Ever the radical, Waters found herself drawn to Montessori-style teaching, which emphasized learning by doing. With an internship at a school in Berkeley followed by a 9-month training program in London, Waters found her mindset and approach to work heavily influenced by Montessori-style teaching. Food was almost always prevalent in Waters' teaching style. During her time at Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, she started The Edible Schoolyard Project, where students could create a relationship to food while also reaping the very literal fruits of their labor (via The Aidan School).

Through teaching, Waters internalized that the care one puts into work creates a unique beauty in itself, per The Guardian excerpt. It's very well that she carried over this compassionate attention to detail to both her restaurant and her meals. One former Montessori school student who later worked as an adult with Waters notes in The New York Times that a simple egg she cooked for him was so good that "for that fleeting instant, I felt loved." 

Like Alice Waters' concept for The Edible Schoolyard, the idea for a garden soon made its way to the White House. In 2009, following the election of President Barack Obama, Waters wrote an open letter addressing both him and First Lady Michelle Obama, urging them to include whole foods in their domestic policy. Waters even offered to form an advisory team to help find a White House chef who could focus on local, in-season and domestically grown produce for the official White House menu. Equally tremendous in significance, she proposed her long-held vision of cultivating a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. This move, she noted, would not only be a nod to the victory garden planted during the Second World War, but would also beautifully embody the Obamas' dedication to nutritious and holistic eating, according to the letter. 

In the summer of 2009, Michelle Obama started the first vegetable garden on White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt's own garden (via The New York Times). But, this plot wasn't just for show, as the article observes. Its produce would be harvested for both formal and informal meals served to the first family. Interesting to note is that like Waters, Michelle Obama envisioned the garden as being a place of active learning for visiting school children, according to the article.

There is evidently staying power behind Alice Waters' philosophy, as Chez Panisse is still serving up seasonal delights five days a week in its original location. While the menu rotates daily, at the time of this writing, one could expect to spend about $175 for the prixe fixe menu that's sure to provide the best of what the season has to offer. While it's been more than a half-century since the restaurant's opening, there's still an element of mystery, or as described by the San Francisco Chronicle, "fantasy," surrounding the now storied eatery in Berkeley.

Like many, the journalist from the Chronicle who visited Chez Panisse in 2019 was already more than aware of Waters' vision and was respectful of the slow food movement as a whole. But, the writer was quick to observe that it's Waters' impact and legendary status that detract from the food being served there some five decades later.

As she so pointedly asks: How can you possibly talk about the food when it rotates so frequently and has almost become symbolic in meaning? Now that slow food and natural foods have become the supposed norm for restaurants and even fast food joints, perhaps the sheen from Chez Panisse has dimmed, if only just by a little. Nonetheless, the writer placates those who would like to sit where history has been made and enjoy a truly wonderful meal, saying they will not be disappointed.

There is no question that Alice Waters is one of the most meaningful chefs in America, if not the world. Through her activism both in and outside the kitchen, she has fallen into high regard among many. The James Beard Foundation Awards seek, per the organization's mission statement, to honor those restaurants and chefs that push America's cuisine to a higher level with "talent, equity, and sustainability." These are major awards — named after James Beard, an icon in the food industry — that have been bestowed upon culinary legends like The French Laundry and Jody Adams.

It was nothing short of a momentous moment when Waters became the first female recipient of foundation's award for Best Chef in America in 1992. As noted by the Chicago Tribune,  the kitchen was long considered "a woman's place," but for a very long time women were barred from the professional kitchen. To honor Waters after more than 20 years of running Chez Panisse and advocating for a change in the American food industry was a long time coming. Nonetheless, it was also a major turning point for female chefs. Waters not only represented the shift in favor of slow food, but also a growing recognition (and space) for female chefs and food visionaries and their major contributions to the world.

But not everyone has been enamored with Waters' approach to food or agrees that she is as revolutionary as she seems. For a philosophy that focuses on slow movement and intention, Berkeley Side observes that there's a lot of hostility surrounding the chef. One criticism surrounding Waters, as outlined by The New York Times, is that she is "elitist" in both view and practice.

The common perception is that her eating style is unobtainable for those living paycheck to paycheck. And there are those who cannot justify spending $12 on a fruit bowl per se. As noted by The Breakthrough Institute, Waters defends these costs as being reflective of the sustainability and ethical working conditions gone into cultivating the produce. Nonetheless, this food philosophy remains impossible for those who either do not live in an area that has access to organic farms or simply cannot budget for it. The latter site argues that it's not the people who need to adjust their dietary habits, but rather the food system that needs to change to include every person. According to the institute, it shouldn't just be those who can afford the nearly $200 meal at Chez Panisse that should be able to eat well. 

While Chez Panisse remains the most well-known of Alice Waters' culinary pursuits, her other ventures have also made big splashes. Located at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Waters' 2021 Lulu functions similarly to its predecessor: It utilizes a rotating menu that features simple, locally sourced food, with a prixe fixe (via Eater). Located in the open-air terrace of the art museum, one writer with the San Francisco Chronicle notes that the restaurant has a lovely ambience, which is described as equally modern and inviting. 

The journalist notes for those looking to explore Waters' culinary vision at a lower price point, Lulu may be the right place to go. A three-course menu at Lulu's comes in at about $65, more than $100 less than the four-course meals featured on the menu at Berkeley's Chez Panisse. Despite the overwhelmingly positive experience, the journalist aptly takes note of a few misses at Lulu. She recommends opting for the rotating menu instead of the staple pieces, as they tended to be notably bland in comparison. She also noted that the famous goat cheese salad she sampled varied considerably when it was ordered at lunch versus when it was ordered at dinner. She went so far as to compare the dinner salad in quality to a "Disneyland churro." Nonetheless, for those looking to experience Waters' cuisine, Lulu provides a refreshed take on a California classic.