We Are What We Eat

Introduction

 

I didn't fully understand the power of food when I opened Chez Panisse in 1971. I knew back then that there was definitely a connection between the counterculture I was part of and the food politics of the day, but the relationship between those two things hadn't yet coalesced in my mind. I respected the back-to-the-land movement and how it emphasized growing your own food without chemicals or pesticides; we had all read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and, later, Frances Moore Lapp 's book Diet for a Small Planet. When I was a student at UC Berkeley, the Free Speech Movement and anti-war and civil rights movements were going on around me in the streets. And I lived through C sar Ch vez's grape strike and watched how effective it was at focusing people's attention on the rights of the farmworkers who grow our food. Those politics were all part of me-how could they not be? These were the biggest issues of our time. But that wasn't why I opened the restaurant. I opened Chez Panisse because feeding people good food felt like the only hopeful thing I could do.

 

Things began to change for me a few years later when, looking for taste, we ended up at the doorstep of the organic farmers, ranchers, and suppliers. Because they chose the best heritage varieties and picked them when they were absolutely ripe, the local, sustainable farmers and gardeners were always the ones who grew the best-tasting ingredients. We started putting those growers' and suppliers' names on the menus in order to give a public face to the generally invisible network of agriculture behind the restaurant. Suddenly, people began looking forward to Jim Churchill's Ojai Kishu mandarins around the New Year or Mas Masumoto's Central Valley Suncrest peaches at the end of August. They would recognize them. And ask for them. Our customers started experiencing, through their taste buds, the natural differences that geography and seasonal fluctuations

Alice Waters is a chef and the founder/owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. She has won numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal, the French Legion of Honor Medal, the Cavaliere of the Italian Republic, and three James Beards Awards. As vice president of Slow Food International and founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project, she has helped bring food awareness to people of all ages all over the world.

Waters makes a convincing case that the act of eating is political, with powerful effects on the future of the planet. TIME

Waters, legendary chef and founder of Berkeley s Chez Panisse, delivers an impassioned manifesto on how food and its quality impacts society and the planet . . . She offers cogent, well-reasoned analyses of the price of convenience, blind trust in advertising, and cheapness, all of which seduce 'us into losing our desire, confidence, and ability to do things for ourselves.' Highly convincing and incredibly inspiring, Waters' fervent entreaty is sure to open eyes and change minds. Publishers Weekly

This beautiful book speaks to the values we need to embrace at this moment in human history: Stewardship, diversity, interconnectedness, simplicity, balance. Reading it has inspired me to do things differently. It will inspire you as well. Jane Fonda, author of What Can I Do?
 
In this warm, passionate and very personal book Alice Waters lays out a stunningly convincing case for changing the way we eat. No jargon, no big words, just Alice talking about all the things that matter most to her. I m going to give this book to everyone I love. Ruth Reichl, author of Save Me the Plums
 
Alice Waters is my favorite chef, and We Are What We Eat is a beautiful, important book. It s full of passion, anger at the way things are, and hope for a kinder, fairer, more humane, and vastly more enjoyable future. This book is the culmination of a life s work, a great life, and is a must read. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
 
What Alice has contributed to the world is immeasurable, but this new book We Are What We Eat covers new ground. Alice has dedicated her entire life to people, the planet, and the food we consume. Here, she teaches us that food has an intrinsic value that today's society takes for granted. Imagine what this world would look, smell, and taste like if more of