Alice Waters facts for kids
Waters at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, February 2015
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| Born | April 28, 1944 Chatham Borough, New Jersey, U.S. |
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| Cooking style | California |
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Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is a famous American chef, restaurant owner, and food writer. In 1971, she opened a restaurant called Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. This restaurant became very important for starting the "farm-to-table" movement and for creating a new style of cooking called California cuisine.
Alice Waters has written several books about cooking, like The Art of Simple Food. She also wrote a book about her life called Coming to my Senses.
In 1996, Waters started the Chez Panisse Foundation. This foundation created the Edible Schoolyard program at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley. She is a strong supporter of making sure everyone can get healthy, organic foods. Her ideas about organic food even inspired Michelle Obama to plant an organic vegetable garden at the White House.
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Early Life and Inspiration
Alice Waters was born in Chatham Borough, New Jersey, on April 28, 1944. Her father was a business consultant, and her mother was a homemaker.
She went to the University of California, Berkeley, and studied French culture. While studying in France, she learned a lot about their way of cooking and eating. She says she "lived at the bottom of a market street" and learned about food just by being there.
This experience in France taught her that food is more than just something to eat; it's a way of life. She brought this idea back to Berkeley.
How Alice Waters Was Influenced
Alice Waters traveled a lot, and her experiences helped shape her ideas about food.
- Montessori Method: She trained at a Montessori school in London. This method teaches children through hands-on activities. This idea influenced her "edible education" and the Edible Schoolyard program, where kids learn by growing and preparing food.
- Hospitality in Turkey: In Turkey, a young boy shared his simple meal of tea and cheese with her, even though he had very little. This act of kindness taught her a lot about being welcoming and generous in her own restaurant.
- French Cooking: After Turkey, she spent a year traveling in France. This trip made her love for French food even stronger and inspired her to open Chez Panisse.
- Other Chefs and Writers: She was influenced by famous food writers like Elizabeth David and Richard Olney. Olney introduced her to Lulu Peyraud, whose cooking at her vineyard in Provence greatly inspired Waters's menus at Chez Panisse. Waters also learned Chinese cooking from Cecilia Chiang, who she said helped popularize Chinese food in America, much like Julia Child did for French food.
Chez Panisse Restaurant
Starting Chez Panisse
In 1971, Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse. She named it after a character from some French films. The restaurant was a team effort from the start.
Waters wanted to use fresh, high-quality ingredients. She realized it was hard to find them, so she started working directly with local farmers and producers. This helped create the "farm-to-table" idea, where restaurants get their ingredients straight from nearby farms.
In 1980, she opened the Chez Panisse Café upstairs, which offered a more casual menu. Later, in 1984, she opened Café Fanny, named after her daughter. It was a relaxed European-style cafe that served breakfast and lunch until it closed in 2012.
Why Organic Food Matters
A main part of Chez Panisse's idea is using organic ingredients. Alice Waters strongly believes that organic foods are better for the environment, healthier for people, and taste much better than foods grown with chemicals.
She says she first cared about taste, and that led her to discover organic farmers. Now, she's a big supporter of organic foods for everyone.
Helping Schools and Communities
Alice Waters is a strong advocate for healthy, sustainable food from local farms. She has worked hard to make these ideas part of public policy.
The Chez Panisse Foundation
In 1996, to celebrate Chez Panisse's 25th anniversary, Waters started the Chez Panisse Foundation. Its goal is to improve public education by using food. They want to teach young people by helping them grow, cook, and share food.
The foundation has worked with the Berkeley Unified School District to create school programs where students learn about food from the garden to the table. This helps students learn about a healthy and sustainable future.
Edible Schoolyard Program
The main project of the Chez Panisse Foundation is the Edible Schoolyard program at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. Started in 1995, it's a 1 acre (4,000 m2) organic garden and kitchen classroom.
Students at the school get involved in growing, harvesting, and preparing food from the garden. This program helps them learn about the environment and how to be healthy.
Waters's work at the Edible Schoolyard also led to her School Lunch Initiative. This project aims to change school lunches across the country. It wants to give children healthy, fresh, and sustainable meals every day.
In 2005, the Chez Panisse Foundation helped Berkeley schools remove almost all processed foods from their menus. They added organic fruits and vegetables, all while staying within the school's budget. Waters believes that subjects like history, science, and art can be taught through food.
A report in 2010 showed that students in schools with strong School Lunch Initiative programs ate more fruits and vegetables. They also knew more about food.
Alice Waters has also encouraged leaders like President Clinton and President Obama to plant organic gardens at the White House. In 2009, Michelle Obama planted the White House organic vegetable garden as part of her Let's Move! campaign against childhood obesity. Many people see Alice Waters as a key leader in the healthy food movement.
There are now Edible Schoolyard programs in other cities too, like New Orleans, New York City, and Los Angeles.
Other Projects
Alice Waters wants all public school children in the United States to get free school meals. She believes this would create a healthier food culture in the country.
In 2003, she helped create the Yale Sustainable Food Project. This project focuses on making sustainable food an important part of university education. It has an organic farm on campus and uses local products in the university's dining halls.
In 2006, she helped start the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome. This project teaches how to prepare simple, sustainable, and seasonal food.
Slow Food Movement
Since 2002, Alice Waters has been a vice president of Slow Food International. This organization works to protect local food traditions, save different kinds of plants and animals, and support small-scale food producers around the world. Waters joined the Slow Food movement because it helps pass on food knowledge and traditions to future generations.
Books
- Chez Panisse Cooking (with Paul Bertolli)
- The Art of Simple Food I
- The Art of Simple Food II
- 40 Years of Chez Panisse
- Coming to my Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook (her memoir)
- Fanny in France: Travel Adventures of a Chef's Daughter, with Recipes, a storybook and cookbook for children
Awards and Honors
Alice Waters has won many awards for her cooking, her work for the environment, and other achievements.
- Chef and Restaurant Awards:
* First woman to win Best Chef in America from the James Beard Foundation Award (1992). * Her restaurant, Chez Panisse, was named Best Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation (1992) and Gourmet magazine (2001). * Received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appétit magazine (2000) and the James Beard Foundation (2004). * Chez Panisse received one Michelin star from 2007 to 2010.
- Advocacy Awards:
* Humanitarian of the Year from the James Beard Foundation (1997). * Received the Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society (2004). * Won the Global Environmental Citizen Award (2008). * Awarded the National Humanities Medal (2014).
- Other Honors:
* Inducted into the California Hall of Fame (2008) and the New Jersey Hall of Fame (2014). * Received an honorary Doctorate from Princeton University (2009). * Awarded the French Legion of Honor (2009). * Named one of Time magazine's Time 100 most influential people (2014). * Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame (2017).
See also
In Spanish: Alice Waters para niños
- Slow Food Nation
