S1E47 - Alice Waters - Nourishing All
When we think of reconnecting to ourselves and to our society, the answers may lie in the simplest of things. To that end, we met with food revolutionary and founder of Chez Panisse - Alice Waters, to return to our roots. At the start of her journey, Waters embarked on an improbable quest to reconnect us to ourselves through delicious food and the organic and regenerative husbandry of the earth. Moving from her kitchen table, to the restaurant, to prison gardens, to gardens for the homeless and on to a national network of Edible Schoolyards, Waters found nourishment for our bodies, our spirit, our society and our planet. Listen in to hear how “we are what we eat” might make us the best we can be. Join us.
Biography
Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and founder of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has been a champion of local organic agriculture for over four decades. In 1995, with a background in Montessori education, she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Applying the Montessori philosophy of learning-by-doing, the program uses an organic garden and on-site kitchen classroom to teach all academic subjects. The Edible Schoolyard Project model has been replicated in over 6,000 schools around the world.
In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act. In 2021, she was awarded the inaugural Carver Carson Award for American innovation in environmental protection and agriculture from the Henry Ford Museum. Alice is the author of sixteen books including her latest, We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto.
Most recently, UC Davis has asked Alice Waters to create an Institute for Regenerative Agriculture and Edible Education at the Aggie Square campus in downtown Sacramento. The Institute will bring together food and agriculture leaders and innovators from around the world in order to address climate change and public health through the procurement of regenerative food in schools.
We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto
National Endowment for the Humanities
Conversation recorded on August 18, 2023.