Charlie Rose Science Series
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02/06/2008
Alice Waters
A conversation about food with Alice Waters
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A conversation about food with Alice Waters, co-owner of Chez Panisse and author of The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.
DVD
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Audio
Audio available through Audible.com.
Audio available through Audible.com.
Transcripts
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Brava Alice... thank you for speaking about the new American values... Good, Clean & Fresh food that tastes good...seasonally and sustainably raised and importantly, is healthy and available for everyone. Some folks may not care for your speaking style but the message is clear. Thanks!
Alice Waters has dedicated over 30 years of her life to educating the public about the importance of food in our familial and political lives. She has quietly (in her affected mannerisms and her soft-spoken voice), remained a steady voice over the decades, emphasizing the importance of remembering where our food comes from, of taking the time to enjoy it with our friends and families, and reminding us that we "vote with your fork" every day way before it was in vogue. I find it terribly unfortunate that after all she's has done, this is how the public views her, base on a cursory 1-hour interview. Is America so ignorant as to the degree of influence she's had in the culinary world? Speak to any chef these days banking on the "local, seasonal, organic movement, and they will tell you what a powerful influence she and her restaurant Chez Panisse has been. How unfortunate that we can't recognize a modern day hero when we see one.
Quote Comment by Heather on Saturday, Feb 9 at 08:23 PM "I tried to watch the video on your website. It started ok but petered out. However, after reading some of the above comments I am not sure I want to watch the interview. There is nothing like a sanctimonious preacher to turn one off. I love to garden, love to cook and maybe I will just keep the high regard I have for AW by not asking if you intend to air the interview again." Alice and the interview was great. It is important for each person to see and judge for themselves and not just follow negative, ignorant bashers and drag down criticizm. (You will always find that, and so if that deters you, you will never see anything for yourself.) this is like if someone says it is raining outside, when really it is sunny, so you just stay inside and miss a great day. It is this type of short sighted, defeatest, and thoughtless criticizm, that we should be wishing NOT to see more of, and not this fabulous, and inspiring interview.
Alice Waters is brilliant, her mannerisms beautiful, and her message is much needed. She is one of the few in touch people. It is a delight to see her bravely and confidently be herself. People like Alice, trying to make differences for the better in the world, need to be supported fully, not all wishy washy like: "I like her message but because of her mannerisms forget about it." People need to be free to be themselves. We say we live in free coiuntries but we don't -because when we criticize each other so harshly it cages us all. We should not do it to others and others won't do it to us. Wouldn't you love to be more free to be yourself? To have the confidence to stand up and support someone fully without wondering if you will be next to be attacked for being your own unique self? That's where this safe, wishy washy, 'I support her, and I don't support her' position arises from -people's needs to stay safe from the criticizing we all do of each other. If we want to live in a better world then we must support goodness when we see it, fully. Alice obviously believes in abundance for all, and so do I, this is not just some unatainable thing because of mass populations. It is still and always will be, possible for all -and when more people start believing it, we will see poverty and desperate need disappear. It is the same greedy people who are sustaining poverty and making millions off disgusting and cruel factory farming that are calling down Alice Waters and calling her out of touch. These people pretend to care about feeding the masses, but really only care about feeding their wallets. They are the same people selling you meat that is unhealthy for humans because it is packed with hormones and antibiotics, and meat that has been killed inhumanely kicking and screaming for their lives whilst being lowered into boilers to be scalded to death. I don't want to eat tortured meat. That is truly poison -because of the natural chemicals released into the animals entire body in this state. The Native Indians know an animal should be killed for meat in an as peaceful a state as possible, this is healthier meat. But sometimes these animals are not even dead before the butchers, under inhumane 'factory' deadlines, just start hacking off hooves, etc. The people saying Alice Waters is out of touch either work in this industry or have been influenced by people who work in this industry, and they are just hasty, evil, and greedy so don't listen to them. Simple Food and Alice have great points that should be supported fully even if we have to call her a saint.
Ignorance IS the political and economic force of the modern world. Corporations pay huge sums of money on PR to maintain this ignorance, as Michele Simon points out in "Appetite for Profit." What we NEED is more people like Alice Waters who remove the cloak of ignorance and show how we (and especially our kids) can eat wholesome food.
Alice Waters has, despite her ignorance of the political and economic forces of the modern world, established a network of local organic farmers in northern California whose crops primarily end up in fine restaurants for the affluent. She cloaks her thoughts into some holier than thou rhetoric that frankly I find very disturbing. Someone should inform her that there are a hell of a lot mouths to feed these days and what she promotes is really just a last gasp for good wholesome food for those who can afford it. Having enough money to eat just about anything I want, I applaud her. Keep those California pears here in February, and make the NY rich wait till September for theirs. You go girl!
Alice Waters has, despite her ignorance of the political and economic forces of the modern world, established a network of local organic farmers in northern California whose crops primarily end up in fine restaurants for the affluent. She cloaks her thoughts into some holier than thou rhetoric that frankly I find very disturbing. Someone should inform her that there are a hell of a lot mouths to feed these days and what she promotes is really just a last gasp for good wholesome food for those who can afford it. Having enough money to eat just about anything I want, I applaud her. Keep those California pears here in February, and make the NY rich wait till September for theirs. You go girl!
I want to thank all the people who decided to criticize Alice because they don't like how she speaks. Special mention goes to the person who informed us that she doesn't have the correct accent for where she lives. What is she thinking?! We're all so much richer now that we know you don't approve, and my life is now just a little bit better for it. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.
Are we so accustomed to glib, overtrained spokespeople that we dismiss an elegant, natural lady like Alice Waters as ditzy and spacey? Is it watching too much TV that leads us to crave artificiality the way people who grow up on box cakes crave trans-fat laden, corn-syrup sodden cake mixes over butter, flour and sugar? Do a little homework, people. If you can leave a comment here, you can find out what's happening to our food supply. I'd recommend reading Michele Simon's "Appetite for Profit" so you can see why corporate behavior precludes a steady supply of wholesome food - for now.
I tried to watch the video on your website. It started ok but petered out. However, after reading some of the above comments I am not sure I want to watch the interview. There is nothing like a sanctimonious preacher to turn one off. I love to garden, love to cook and maybe I will just keep the high regard I have for AW by not asking if you intend to air the interview again.
What an odd interview. I was expecting her to be inspiring; certainly she made good points, but wonder, did she take a stage fright medication? And little passion for the act of cooking would have made it more convincing. With all her admirers/friends here in NYC, I can't believe no one pointed her to Union Square.
There seemed to be no passion coming from her. Curious whether her message is from her earlier chefs, marketed and passed on as hers. A chef passionate about ingredients but does not cook at her restaurant. Oh my. When do we see an interview with Jonathan Waxman?> J
Reading some of these comments, I wonder if ya'll will cast your vote for president based solely on looks and personality. Eating locally is important for many reasons: personal health, health of our land and ecosystem, less dependence on fossil fuels, less dependence on corporations, more self-sufficiency, etc. But, also, we shouldn't feel like Robin (one of the commenters below) that we have to only eat locally. Our culture has this thing with either all or none. You're not a hypocrite if you think eating locally is a good thing, but you don't always eat locally. If everyone just bought some of their produce/meat from local farmers, this would make a huge difference. ~matt f
I too, was struck by Water's wanting to buy locally grown pears in NYC in February, and turned the show off.
I agree with all of R. MacDonald's comments below. I watched the interview with disappointment and disbelief at Water's vocal delivery, mannerisms, and anecdotes of her own sanctimonious lifestyle. It appears that over the course of the past 30+ years she's deified herself into a saint for the environment and savior of our nation's food "values". I wouldn't want her as my spokeswoman for eating better and "greener"; she was totally uninspiring and out of touch with the climatic realities which face local growers (and consumers) outside of sunny California. As a New England native, when I ask myself where my olives, lemons and oranges come from, the answer which comes to mind is "a place a heck of a lot warmer than here". Bless my Massachusetts apples and Maine potatoes! I will vow to do my part to help the environment though, and save a few trees by forgoing purchasing her 415-page hardcover cookbook. I shall put the $35 towards my vegetable garden, groove all summer on the joy of tending to the plants and watching them grow, and continue to "value" my food experience by canning/freezing my harvest for the winter months. I don't need an expert or a 2-pound cookbook to tell me the tomatoes from my own backyard will taste better than the pale "organic" ones from the store, and that the strawberries in N.E. grocery stores in February probably won't have much flavor.
I knew about Alice Waters, her restaurants, her culinary philosophy, and her books, but had never seen her until last night. So for that, I'm grateful to Rose for putting someone on who doesn't travel the usual talk show circuit. I thought she made a miserable impression, and I was expecting to like her. First, her speaking style was troublesome. She grew up in New Jersey and lived most of her adult life in Northern California. No one in either place speaks like that. It was unnatural and affected. She reminded me of Peggy Noonan who speaks like she's sharing priceless pearls of wisdom in a holier than thou fashion. She was humorless and boring and took herself too seriously. Like Peggy Noonan. She believes you should only eat food grown in season within a few miles of where you eat. Then she holds a pear and complains that it wasn't grown in New York. It's February for Christ's sake. Has this food expert not heard of "the growing season?" Apples and pears are not hanging from trees in New York or New Jersey orchards in the middle of the winter. How could she be so ignorant? Most vegetables don't survive after the first frost in October or so. Farmers don't plant 'til after there is no danger of frost in the Spring. There are a few exceptions, I know, but fruit that grows on trees are not among them. Could she really be such an unpleasant moron and have succeeded the way she has? I wonder.
Great message...odd delivery. I felt like the interview never got off the ground. And it was not for lack of enthusiasm on Charlie's part. This was one of the few CR interviews that I did not watch in its entirety...disappointing, really. Maybe it's possible to be too ethereal.
Modernization - with its extensive division of labor and its globalizing influence - has brought very really benefits to humanity. But it also puts very really stress on human beings and the communities that historically have sustained them. We will have to fit modernization together with community if we want to stave off the sort of pathologies the first half of the 20th century produced. Ms. Waters - and the slow food movement - articulates in a small way a means by which to help sustain human community given the fact of modernization. What she proposes will not solve the tensions between modernization and community, of coruse, the problems these two forces generate are much to big for that. But it does help. And who knows, her views may encourage others to look for other ways to fit together these two aspects of the contemporary world. Patrick
As a Berkeley native both proud and slightly embarassed by Ms Waters. Such a dippy lady and does disservice to her cause by being so. Nevertheless her values are great.
We grew up here in California and some time in the Seattle area always eating local foods. So for me Alice Waters is a visionary for the 21st century. It was so sad that she couldn't find any locally grown pears in NYC, since NYC region was where the 100 mile rule for food started. I wonder how many people watching her on the show listened close when she noted eating in season. When it comes to being 'green' the idea of buying fruits, vegetables, meats from across the country/world is a no no in our home. I also love that she believes in preparing food in as simple a way as possible. Am so proud she is from California like we are.
Alice Waters has been a true inspiration! For years I've followed her in her books, interviews, and notes through her Chez-Panisse site. Her philosophy has been obtained through letting herself be inspired..by farmers, cooks, & gentle people who talk with the passion they live. Her idea in teaching kids how to eat and cultivate food is ancestral, but we've forgotten how important it is to live in a healthy environment. Thank you for bringing a show with such fresh air.
I missed Alice Waters please let me know when it will appear again. thankyou
I can appreciate the message that Alice Waters has because I grew up on a very small farm in Oregon in the late 50's and 60's. We grew most of our own food, and went to other "truck farms" to pick what we did not grow ourselves and preserved it. However, short of people having enough land to grow their own food and the time or know how to do so - what she is suggesting isn't happening just because of economy of scale. Having lived abroad as an adult, I can tell you that in France people spend the largest portion of their income on FOOD, more than 60% of it. In America the average family spends 12% of their income on food. I don't eat much processed food myself, and no "white foods" i.e., breads, flours, etc... but what she is suggesting, here in the San Francisco Bay Area will cost about $400 per month per person. Doesn't seem like a lot of you bring home a fat salary, but if you are single and work for an hourly wage that is less than $25/hr... it isn't that easily affordable for just one person with the housing and transportation costs here, add children or a spouse and it isn't going to happen.
yes! yes! yes! so wonderful to see alice waters :: dear soul :: and charlie's bewilderment at the powerful integrity of her message :: education, agriculture, cultural values :: health and happiness :: the children, the future :: and your health too charlie :: a lovely evening :: may it grow :: slow and slow :: breathe :: mangia mangia ! xo
What was going with this spacey California woman who said she could not find local radishes and pears in NYC? She should have kept out of Dean & Deluca near her Soho hotel and headed to the farmer's market in Union Sq. Most of what she said was positive and I'm into it, but wow, she was fruity... -S
I am just wondering when the show with alice Waters will air. I am having trouble finding a time on the airing. Please let me know asap. I would really appreciate it. Thank you. -sayujya sayujya51284@yahoo.com