“Organic,” “local,” “sustainable”—these buzzwords were not ubiquitous in the American vernacular when Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, in 1971. Yet these were the key tenets of her culinary philosophy, and over the course of the next 50 years, they became the guiding principles of chefs all over the world. Waters’s Edible Schoolyard Project, which she founded in 1995, now brings gardens and kitchen classrooms to schools across the country. This year, Chez Panisse celebrates its 50th anniversary, and on June 1, Waters will release her latest book, We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto. Herewith, her key components to the good life. —Ashley Baker
Bedtime: 10:30 p.m.
Breakfast, weekday: Pu-erh tea.
Breakfast, weekend: An egg cooked over the fireplace in my egg spoon.
Child: Fanny Singer.
Cocktail: Kir Royale.
Cocktail appetizer: Anchovy toast and roasted almonds with rosemary.
Date: A movie and dinner.
Diet: Whatever is local, seasonal, and organic.
Dinner, weekday: Heirloom dried beans from Rancho Gordo with local greens, and corn bread.
Dress: My dear friend Christina Kim’s brand Dosa makes the most beautiful ones.
Drink: Rosé, especially a Bandol from my dear friends at Domaine Tempier.
Enemy: Fast food.
Escape: Cinema.
EXERCISE: An early-morning walk with my friends.
FAMILY: My beloved “Famille Panisse,” at the restaurant!
KITCHEN UTENSIL:
My mortar and pestle.
Last Meal: Lulu’s bouillabaisse.
Movie: Marcel Pagnol’s Marseille Trilogy. It has inspired so much in my life.
Nonfiction book: Think Little, by Wendell Berry.
Podcast: The Kitchen Sisters Present …
President: Obama.
Singer: Caetano Veloso.
Spice: Cumin.
STORY: “The Man Who Planted Trees,” by Jean Giono.
Time of day: Morning.
Toast: Garlic-rubbed Acme pain au levain with lots of good olive oil.
Vacation: Rome.
View: My backyard, with its redwood tree.
Wake-up time: 6:00 a.m.
Work of art: The Weather Project, by Olafur Eliasson.
Writing implement: A Sharpie calligraphy pen.
Alice’s Essentials
