Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

What a story! Alice Waters started her restaurant, Chez Panisse, on Shattuck Street in Berkeley, California in August of 1971. This is the story of both Alice herself and the restaurant. It is wonderfully written. I had a vague idea of who Alice Waters was, or who I thought she was, but I really didn't know much and what I thought I knew wasn't accurate. Like, I thought she was a California flower child who had a very successful vegetarian restaurant. Not exactly....

Her love of food prepared with the very freshest ingredients became a food philosophy that has earned her plaudits all over the world from all sorts of food critics and chefs. As the restaurant (finally) became profitable and her staff (the Chez Panisse famille) were able to carry on without her presence all the time, she began to travel and speak and devote her restless energies into projects like The Edible Schoolyard (gardens in schoolyards, starting with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley), the Slow Food movement, or trying to convince Bill and Hillary Clinton to have gardens at the White House and to openly endorse her passion in trying to arrest the the processes, both of how food is chosen and consumed in the US and how it is produced. She is such a presence in the world of foodies, even though she does not like that term. A dinner at Chez Panisse in 2010 probably costs nearly $100 but most of the diners find the experience and taste memorable and worthy of that price.

The book is a treat in itself, as the author follows the staff, all the changes and Alice herself through the last 50 years. She is now 66 years old and continues to live life to the fullest, always intending to live with more grace and reflection and serenity but probably not succeeding very often.

There are a few haphazard recipes in the book, mostly just complementing a particular chef or staff member or illustrating Alice's way of explaining how she thinks of food..never precise measurements, always open to experiment, taking advantage of whatever is available and fresh. The author nicely balances the tales of Alice's personal life with her public life. He tells the tales without malice and without too much adulation, always acknowledging the amazing tenacity, creativity and vision of Alice Waters. She does have detractors and the author also includes some of the comments from those less enchanted with Ms. Waters, but mostly this chronology is a tribute to her.

Now, having said all that, I am left with how complicated it SEEMS to cook, eat and live this way...the foraging all over our "neighborhoods" for local, clean food, the time needed to do this and then to prepare (think peeling dozens of baby root vegetables) these meals, the education necessary to reach the millions who drive through the fast food franchises each day opting for a super-sized meal, the total commitment to slowing down as we eat with our families and friends. Not that I don't agree with and totally admire her efforts...I guess we do what we can, each of us, in whatever small or large ways that we are able.

Anyway, Thomas McNamee has written a book about which Jim Harrison says, "Over and above Waters's obvious leadership in the food revolution, McNamee's work is as compelling as a very good novel."