Today the idea of "simple and seasonal" seems to be everywhere. But Alice Waters was saying it about 50 years ago, when Chez Panisse first opened on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. Neither a trained cook nor a businesswoman, she has changed the face of American dining.
Waters never intended to have the power she now has. Growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s, she went to the University of California, Berkeley, only because her closest friends were going, and for a while she didn't have a dear aim.
But living in France for a year changed everything. Waters fell in love with good food and the care people took over its sourcing and cooking. "I took my Slow Food values— everyone should have access to good food, and growers are properly valued—from 1960s France," she says. "By the time I came home they were part of me."
Back in California, all Waters wanted to do was cook and open a restaurant. When Chez Panisse finally opened, with dinner cooked and served by a team with no training, it was a disaster. Guests waited ages for their food. But Waters was not discouraged. "I've always said that if someone makes delicious food, others will find it."
Since 1971, Chez Panisse's only expansion has been a cafe upstairs. Waters has always refused to make it bigger since that might weaken the Chez Panisse brand. Her Edible Schoolyard Project, on the other hand, has been intentionally spread out. It started when Waters created a garden space at a Berkeley school for teaching about food. Today, over 2,000 schools worldwide arc following Waters' original model.
The Schoolyard represents everything Alice Waters stands for and acts as a cornerstone, promoting both educational and personal growth. The food is grown slowly and naturally by hand. Students learn about the benefits of healthy eating, careers in food industry, nutrition, food safety, and the restaurant business.
