Alice Waters

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0:30with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slipcovers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, loveseat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anabay has you covered. Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60 % off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washablesofas.com. Add a little to your life. Offers are subject to change, and certain restrictions may apply. This episode is brought to you by Me & M, the British modern luxury clothing label designed for busy women.

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1:48When Rose and I opened the River Cafe in 1987, we were credited for bringing open kitchens, farm-sourced ingredients, and women chefs to restaurants. As happy as we were to receive this credit, we would always say Alice Waters did it first. Not only has she created Chez Panisse, taught us how to cook through her six cookbooks, Alice has showed us all how food can bring communities together. As a food activist, her foundation, the Edible Schoolyard, has taught children how vegetables grow and the joy of creating a garden, whether in a disadvantaged urban area or on the lawn behind the White House.

2:33Even though we're probably, what, 7 ,000 miles apart, I feel deeply connected and close to you, Alice. Oh, I'm so touched. When Rose and I opened, I have the menu from the very first day we opened the River Cafe. And on the dessert menu was Alice Walter's Lemon Tart. and it's been on the menu every day since then. And I was wondering whether you would like to talk about lemons and your lemon tart. I would love to talk about lemons. I just picked some from my backyard this morning. They smell so good. And it reminded me that the first really successful dessert at Chapin Heath's was a Meyer lemon ice cream and sherbet that we put inside a lemon cup.

3:25And people were so surprised by the taste. Tell me about Meyer lemons. They're a friddle that it's sweet. And I can't describe the flavor. It's sort of ethereal to me. But it's not sharp. It's very floral. Lindsay Shearer's family lived up north on a farm, and she had Meyer lemons there as well. And that sort of was the beginning of our connection directly with the farmers. She was your pastry chef, was she? She was the dessert chef for Chez Panisse? She was, but she was also a partner in the ownership and still is. I planted a Meyer lemon tree in my backyard, and I was holding up those lemons and remembering the lemon tart we made.

4:25And I have to say that it is one of my favorite desserts. Lemon meringue pie as a child was always one of my favorite desserts. Did your mother make it for you? She actually did for my birthday. That was one of the only things she knew how to make. She'd make a lemon meringue pie every year for your birthday. Yes. I grew up in the late 40s in New Jersey, where it was very cold, very hot in the summer. But I certainly fell in love with the vegetables and fruits of my parents' victory garden. My parents kept it their whole life. They planted it during the war, both as a way to help to send food to the soldiers in Europe.

5:21And Roosevelt had asked everybody to do that. But they did it for financial reasons, because we were a family of six. And so my parents planted tomatoes and canned the tomatoes for the winter and always had squashes that were in the basement. And that seasonality of food, I think, was deep inside me. I loved corn and tomatoes in the summer more than anything. When is the season for lemons in San Francisco? When do you have them? Well, right now, they're just beginning to ripen. And I was just going to cut these open that I picked in my backyard. But it's a longer season, of course, in California.

6:17And different Feraldos have a longer life. But we're lucky that way. Alice, I'd love to hear your story of starting Chez Panisse. And I know that it was almost part of your activism as a person in the early 60s when the United States was in the tumult of the free speech movement, of the Vietnam War, and you were at Berkeley. Tell me what really inspired you to start a restaurant. Well, it began really in that free speech movement with the leadership of Mario Savio. And he said to all of us, you need to visit other cultures, understand the way people think around the world. And he said, if you can, you should take off your junior year and go to some other country.

7:18So I did. I went to France in 1965. and it really did change my life, not just because of the food that was so extraordinary, but because of the beauty of the culture of France. I fell in love with Notre Dame, sitting by the Seine, drinking a glass of wine. I walked everywhere. I loved the farmer's markets. And I came back home and I just said, I want to live like the French. And I had friends who felt the same way. And in our naivete, we thought, well, maybe if we open a little French restaurant, the food will come. And it did. It sure did. Did you have chefs who knew how to do a meal for people who came in at seven?

8:21Some people came in at nine. Some people wanted fish. Some people wanted. How did you? Did you know how to? Well, I only had one menu. I wanted it to be like the little restaurants in Paris where you ate things that you may not have ever had before that we could curate according to the season. and what we loved to cook. Well, strangely, and over time, and because it was very affordable, people liked it a lot. And they came because it was in an old house, and they came and they felt like they were eating at home. And that is really part of, I think, my Montessori training, which said that you need to appeal to all of your senses because they are our pathways into our minds.

9:26And so I wanted the restaurant to smell good. I used to burn rosemary out in front of the restaurant, so it smelled like the south of France. And I knew that a fireplace in the kitchen would give an aroma. I knew that candles on the table would be beautiful. But it was taste I was looking for when I got back from France. I wanted to eat and live like the French. And I didn't find taste until I found the farmers. When you say you wanted to eat like the French ate and shopped like the French shopped, can you tell me about what that meant? Well, it meant that you only ate food in season and only local food.

10:19You know, I fell in love with those wild strawberries in the fall, and all of a sudden they were gone. And they said, oh, you have to go up in the woods and pick them. And I just didn't believe that people spent the time doing that and bringing them down from the woods and selling them to the restaurateurs. And, of course, in the end, that's what we did. We really bought the food directly. And when we started doing that at Chippenies, everybody in the state wanted to sell to us because we left out the middleman. And that's what's so critical because the farmers need real cost. and our farmer would want all of our composted food and take it back to the farm and we'd cook up the vegetables.

11:21And how was the kind of rigor of a restaurant? How was the finances and the ordering and the margins and everything? Did that matter or did it not matter? Well, I was never out. None of us was out to make money. I mean, my parents mortgaged their house so that I could buy the building that we were in. And it was back in those days, it cost practically nothing. And that subsidized the beginning of the restaurant, no question about that. But it really began with a group of us. And some of us knew how to do pastries and some of us knew how to make soup. And it was very collaborative in that way. And then we got some more experienced people in the kitchen and things changed.

12:23But it's always been kind of an extended family. Yeah. And you've had such great chefs that have worked for you and then have gone on to do, like the River Cafe, you know, one of the great expressions that I often use is, if you love them, let them go. And you certainly love them and you have let them go. And I think also what you've done is you've created not only a place where the values were on the food, but it was also quite revolutionary in the way that you created a place where people could work and also have a life. Whereas it used to be that to work in a restaurant, you had to suffer early hours.

13:06You had to suffer late nights. You had to suffer bullying in the kitchen. You had to suffer no days off. You must take the credit for having changed the culture of restaurants. Well, I did something very important as I look back over 53 years. Probably the most important decision I made was when I had a child and I realized that I could not cook six days a week. and I decided that we would divide the job in two. And I would work three days, but I would be paid for six. Someone else would do likewise. And it worked so beautifully that I did it for the cafe upstairs and I did it for the pastry. So instead of having one chef in each department, You had two.

14:09And it meant that there were many points of view. And so young people who came to learn in the kitchen would experience that sort of collaborative thinking. and made life for the people who were leading the kitchen civilized. And they could be with their families. They could go out to other restaurants. And it really did change Chez Panisse. I just want to point out to everyone listening to this, what a really radical and almost revolutionary way that Alice transformed the culture of restaurants. There's still a long way to go, and there still is a match. I just had a chef who came and did a month with you in Berkeley at Chez Panisse, and she came back so excited and so impressed by the culture of your restaurant.

15:17The River Cafe Cafe, our all-day space and just steps away from the restaurant, is now open. In the morning, an Italian breakfast with Cornetti, Ciambela, and Crostata from our pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, ice cream coupes and River Cafe classic desserts. We have sharing plates, salumi misti, mozzarella, bruschetta, red and yellow peppers, vitello tonato, and more. Come in the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar. No need to book. See you here.

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16:51Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut. Book ahead, save up to 50 % and skip the hassle of circling the block. Park smarter, park faster. ParkWiz. Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park. Tell me about what it was like raising a child as both a chef and an entrepreneur and someone who wrote Cookbook? How did you find Jane Roth? I always wanted her to taste the ingredients. And I had a garden out back of my house, and I planted things that were very aromatic and little wild strawberries and things she could pick.

17:42But I was very intent on making her school lunches, something that she loved. And it turned out that she shared them with her friends. They all loved the lunch that she took. But she really became a connoisseur. She loved to eat. And then she became really engaged in food as part of her work as an artist and is doing a website now for new mothers to learn how to cook for their kids. I think we're both concerned with, certainly with children and their nutrition, the way, you know, what schools, how schools can just give children who may not be even able to have dinner, that going to school might give them their one meal a day and how we can provide.

18:49What is, in San Francisco, do children get free meals? What do you have to do to qualify for a free meal? I mean, theoretically, yes. But in fact, the meals in every school in the country is really the reimbursement comes to the schools federally and they could be serving them packaged fast food. And it takes a really determined school district to make change. And that's why we need to do this in an international way where we can understand that we can buy foods that are affordable, that are delicious and nutritious. That's one of my new cookbooks about the school lunch revolution. Tell me about the new cookbook.

19:44I'd like to know about it. Well, it's about school lunches. It's food that kids like. I mean, things like hummus and pita bread, and who knew what they would like, wilted greens, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. But they just haven't been exposed to them. But the Edible Schoolyard Project was a model that shared human values. To have a garden in a school and a kitchen, to teach all the academic subjects in that Montessori way, learning by doing in a kitchen and garden classroom. it's amazing what they learn and how happy they are to be in those classrooms. Can you tell me and tell everyone who's listening about Edible Schoolyard?

20:44Well, 30 years ago, the principal of a school in Berkeley called me up and asked me whether I could help him beautify his school. and I went over to the school and it was a middle school. It had 800 students that came from, they spoke 22 different languages in their homes. And I was very intimidated when I saw this big, huge piece of land. And from really the very first planting of that vacant lot, Parents wanted to help. Kids wanted to help after school. It was amazing how quickly it changed the whole nature of the school. You could make a kitchen classroom and you could make a garden classroom, not for teaching cooking or gardening, but for teaching the academic subjects.

21:53You could teach geography in the kitchen classroom. And its success and our teaching every year we do a training has created this amazing network, which I'm going to show you this map because you won't believe it. Wow. Amazing. I'm looking at a map. I just tell us, I'm looking at a map. Describe what you're showing me. a network of edible schoolyards that goes to practically every country around the world. Over 6 ,500 schools in all different climates and cultures. But I have to say that it has been the reason that I am so sure that schools supported agriculture. can change the world, I dare say.

22:58Can. If we get children when they're young, if we teach them when they want to learn and to be exposed, I think one of the things that you and I probably as parents have understood the difference between, well, the importance of exposure. When we take chefs who've worked for us, we take them to Italy every year to see how olive oil is made. And you realize you and I have done that with our children from an early age, but so many people have not understood how vegetables grow, how olive oil is made, how cows are milked. It's really understanding what the culture is of food. Do you agree? I totally agree.

23:42But I agree that there's something deep inside all of us that, of course, is connected to nature. and to food, and that coming back, it's almost like coming home. It's not something that's difficult for children to embrace, or even for adults to embrace. When they are at a table and food is delicious, it's easy for them to want to go back there again, and for them to want to make change. The other very well-known garden that you were involved with was a garden of the White House when President Obama was there, and you worked with Michelle. Can you tell me about that experience? Well, I talked to her a lot about the Edible Schoolyard Project, and she loved the idea, And she knew about Roosevelt's interests, his wife's interest in Victory Gardens and buying food.

24:56He even had a garden on the front lawn of the White House at one time. But she found a farmer, Sam Cass. And I was so surprised when she planted a garden behind the White House. one of her first things she did. What did she grow there? Oh, everything. And he had a beehive. It was amazing. Are you optimistic about the future? Do you think that this will go forward, people knowing more? I really am optimistic about the possibility of changing the procurement of public schools around the world. I mean, many other countries, and your country, one of the most able to do this because of your long history in gardening and also belief in education.

25:56Unfortunately, we don't have that in the United States. And even though many, many people are involved with gardening around the country and selling to schools, we need that leadership to show us that this is possible and absolutely essential for climate. We can't be shipping food around the world. It's the idea that comes from the fast food indoctrination that we should have whatever we want whenever we want it. And you can't bring an unripe avocado from Mexico and hope that it's going to ripen by the time you get it to, you know, Denmark in December.

26:49If you like listening to Ruthie's Table 4, would you please make sure to rate and review the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.

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28:24Thanks to you and really what you've done, there's a much greater understanding of the restrictions and the joy we have of different seasons. that a vegetable or fruit comes and then it goes and then another one comes and then it goes. Don't you think? You say hello and then you say goodbye to a fruit or a vegetable. It's a beautiful thing, actually, to think of it that way. Hello and goodbye. Because you don't want to be just eating food that isn't at that moment of ripeness. when it has such a distinct flavor. I mean, right now we have passion fruit on all the trees around Berkeley and people are bringing them over to Chez Panisse and we're buying them and we're making a passion fruit syrup.

29:17We've never done that before and it is delicious. Yeah, right now we have, we don't have passion fruit, but we have porcini mushrooms that we're gathering. And we have white truffles. And we have, oh no, but the best thing, guess what the best thing we have is? The olive oil. I served some yesterday to some friends. I poured some oil out and I said, these olives were on the trees three weeks ago. Well, we discovered that we can make olive oil that's as tasty as all of the olive oils I've always loved from Italy. So it's really interesting to know what we can grow and to get those seeds. And we're going to really need it with climate change.

30:13What can we grow when it's very rainy, very hot? And we need to really collaborate internationally about that. last year there was rain in july then there was a hail there was heat and the olive oil was really challenging to find enough oil because you know we use so much in the river cafe i think we use 7 000 bottles a year you know 10 bottles a day how have you experienced climate change in san francisco how has that affected what you're eating and growing it's affected us all of course psychologically and it's the reason that I'm so focused on public education, supporting farmers directly like we do, paying them the real cost, because we need to have a solution or a way to directly help the farmers during this time of climate change.

31:22We need to pull the carbon down and put it in the ground where it belongs. We could do that with the procurement of food in public schools. I know you're doing that with King Charles's Foundation Farm to School in England. But I think that restaurants could really help to lead the way to supporting and purchasing all food that is locally grown organically and regeneratively. My last question to you, Alice, is if food is what we feed our children, our grandchildren, what we feed people who come to our restaurants, it is also comfort. Food is a source of comfort, emotional comfort. Is there a food that you would particularly associate with comfort?

32:18Well, for me, the great thing about food is that it connects you to the beauty of nature. And I go outside and just throw myself down on the ground, smell the herbs. and I love rosemary. I love to fry rosemary and sage. I love to sprinkle it on just about anything. But it is aromatherapy and that is very powerful. Thank you, Alice. I feel that we are separated by oceans and valleys and rivers cruis, plains, and cities. But I do feel that we are connected through so much. Our love for food, our love for people we work with, our children, our grandchildren, for nature, for farmers, and most of all, I think, certainly on my part, our love for each other.

33:26Thank you very much. Thank you.

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34:35Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut. Book ahead, save up to 50 % and skip the hassle of circling the block. Park smarter, park faster. ParkWiz. Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park. This is an iHeart Podcast.