Alice Waters: Mother of California Cuisine

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When choosing a famous culinarian I probably should have chosen someone a bit more famous like Paula Deen, Gordon Ramsey, or Anthony Bourdain; (at least that way I would have a plethora of bios, summaries, and different multi medias to work with) who mind you are all amazing chefs and have made great names for themselves. But they are all “cookie cutter” chefs. They each have amazing talent and great TV personalities. But what have any of them done to enhance our industry? what have they done to revitalize a dieing breed? The only thing any of them have done is enhance their own bank accounts and pawn off basic knowledge that should have been passed down from generation to generation. Unfortunately in our fast paced culture no one has time or energy to do anything more than watch people cook on TV and re-heat pre made dishes that have been so processed im not sure they are anything but flavored calories. Its a sad brave new world we live in, which brings me to the main topic of this essay: Alice Waters. I doubt many of you have ever heard of her. She is most famous for her restaurant in my home town of Berkeley California, called Chez Panisse. The restaurant menu changes daily based on whats in season and available. Unfortunately before I can get into all the juicy fun facts about Alice (like how drunk she and mom would get at the bar) Ill have to give you a quick dry briefing on who what where when and why our heroine exists. Alice Waters, born April 28th 1944, chef, author, and the proprietor of Chez Panisse, she is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainable and locally. She is an advocate for a food ec... ... middle of paper ... ...s so clinical and "normal" it really almost pushed me away from the culinary field completely. But Alice with her self sustaining restaurant, friends and family based meals. Taking what the community had to offer and giving right back tenfold! thats what being a chef is. Being a chef really has nothing to do with how efficiently you can butcher half a cow, how perfect your battonet slice is or how aromatic and golden your basic stock is. Being a chef is being a community leader/activist. Not raping your neighbors for profit or burning out the land to keep produce costs at a profitable margin. Alice waters may not have her own show on food network. she may not be renowned for inventing some new souffle. Works Cited http://www.forbestravelguide.com/tastemaker/alice-waters/how-does-alice-waters-define-california-cuisine http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/alice-waters/

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