Alice Waters
@AliceWaters
Alice Waters, chef, author, and proprietor of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, is a pioneer of a culinary philosophy based on using only the freshest organic products, served only in season. Over the course of thirty-nine years, Chez Panisse has developed a network of local farmers and purveyors whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of pure, fresh ingredients.
Waters’ commitment to education led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre garden and kitchen classroom at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School. The Edible Schoolyard, started in 1996, is a model public education program that gives students the knowledge and values they need to build a humane and sustainable future by actively involving them in all aspects of the food cycle: planting, harvesting, and cooking. The success of The Edible Schoolyard has led to the School Lunch Initiative, which has as its national agenda the integration of a nutritious daily lunch and gardening experience into the academic curriculum of all the public schools in the United States.
Waters is Vice President of Slow Food International, a nonprofit organization that promotes and celebrates local artisanal food traditions and has more than 100,000 members in over 130 countries. She is the author of eight books, including The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution and her most recent book, In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart.
Alice Waters’s honors and affiliations include:
Légion D’Honneur, 2010
Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Princeton University, 2009
Inductee, California Hall of Fame, 2008
Co-recipient with Kofi Annan, Global Environmental Citizen Award, 2008
Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2007
Lifetime Achievement Award, Restaurant Magazine’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants, 2007
Force for Nature Award, Natural Resources Defense Council, 2004
Best Restaurant in America, Gourmet magazine, 2001
Founder, Yale Sustainable Food Project, Berkeley College, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 2003
Vice President, Slow Food International, Bra, Italy, 2003
Founder, Sustainable Food Program at the American Academy in Rome, 2006