Alice Waters, a Rosie’s Daughter, shines again

Post #1 – Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

It’s February 2008 and I’m still going through my favorite Christmas presents — books. Alice Waters’ new book, The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution is now on top of one of the many tempting piles that fill my desk, my bedside table, and the kitchen counter.

In researching Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story, I investigated numerous sources to compile a list of prominent women born during World War II. Imagine my delight to find that my idol, Alice Waters, is a Rosie’s Daughter. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Waters, like so many “First Woman To” Generation women brought about change and continues to do so.

Waters, as you may know, led a food movement that can be summed up in two simple words: fresh, local. This means purchasing, preparing, and serving foods that are in season and grown locally, usually purchased directly from farmers in order to support them rather than the “middle person.” Perhaps I understate her contribution by saying that she “led the” movement. It might be more accurate to say she created it and was its sole enthusiast for some time. Today many restaurants feature organically grown foods purchased directly from nearby farmers. Most of these places either directly or indirectly owe their emphasis to the proselytizing of Alice Waters.

Even a Pro Goes on Book Tour Late last year, Kim Severson of The New York Times invited Alice Waters to go shopping with her at a local farmer’s market, fix lunch, and talk about her new cookbook. Severson’s article is great fun to read. You’ll learn, for example, that Alice Waters shows up with her own olive oil.

What Makes Alice Waters a FW2? In what way is Alice Waters an important “First Woman To?” Turn on the Food Network and you’ll see many female chefs-Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentis, Ina Garten (better known as Barefoot Contessa), Cat Cora, Nigella Lawson, Sara Moulton, Sandra Lee, and others. Not 50% of the talent but still enough to believe that women can be successful chefs and run successful restaurants.

Now rewind your mental tape to 1971. (I’m not sure what the digital age phrase is for “tape.”) Julia Child is probably the only female chef you know. She, of course, was bringing French food to the American kitchen. Alice Waters, on the other hand, wanted to create a uniquely California cuisine that emphasized freshness and quality. This she did in her two restaurants, the first opened in 1971 and the second in 1984.

By the way, do you find it odd that women do most of the cooking, but men are still most of the chefs?

What Else Has She Done for Us? No summary of Alice Waters’ important life would be complete without mentioning her innovative effort to change not only the way children eat, but their relationship to food. In the late 1990s, she founded The Edible Schoolyard, a non-profit school program where students grow food and learn how to cook it. The initial school, Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California, has integrated the program into many aspects of its curriculum. The program has been adopted in other schools and Waters hopes for: “…a revolution in public education-a real Delicious Revolution. When the hearts and minds of our children are captured by a school lunch curriculum, enriched with experience in the garden, sustainability will become the lens through which they see the world.”

Final Thoughts, Including What To Eat? I wish Alice Waters would write a memoir. I’d love to have her telling her own life story. There is a new book Alice Waters and Chez Panisse.

Although it is said to be written with the consent of Alice Waters, it is authored by Thomas McNamee. I imagine that Waters believes her legacy is the influence she has had on American cuisine and children as well as her cookbooks. Still, it would be fun to read her memoir.

Well, all these words about food are making me hungry. I think I’ll go to the kitchen and try Alice Waters’ recipe for Cauliflower Salad with Olives and Capers (I make my own from nasturtium pods that grow plentifully in my garden). Yum.