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Start giftingComing to My Senses
The Making of a Counterculture Cook
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“No one has transformed the way Americans think about food—its place in our individual and collective lives, and as a conveyer of our values—than Alice Waters. The founder of iconic Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, and the driving force behind the Edible Schoolyard program that has introduced tens of thousands of schoolchildren across America to the art of growing and cooking food, Waters has now written her long-awaited memoir. In Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook she describes her roots in New Jersey, her coming of age during the political tumult of the 1960s, and her ongoing crusade to make locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, and “slow food” the mainstays of a new American cuisine. Throw in a few spicy love affairs, her passion for books, and a life spent intersecting with presidents and movie moguls, and you’ve got a book that is a satisfying and delicious full-course meal.”
Lissa M.,
Politics & Prose
Summary
The New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed memoir from cultural icon and culinary standard bearer Alice Waters recalls the circuitous road and tumultuous times leading to the opening of what is arguably America's most influential restaurant.
When Alice Waters opened the doors of her "little French restaurant" in Berkeley, California in 1971 at the age of 27, no one ever anticipated the indelible mark it would leave on the culinary landscape—Alice least of all. Fueled in equal parts by naiveté and a relentless pursuit of beauty and pure flavor, she turned her passion project into an iconic institution that redefined American cuisine for generations of chefs and food lovers. In Coming to My Senses Alice retraces the events that led her to 1517 Shattuck Avenue and the tumultuous times that emboldened her to find her own voice as a cook when the prevailing food culture was embracing convenience and uniformity. Moving from a repressive suburban upbringing to Berkeley in 1964 at the height of the Free Speech Movement and campus unrest, she was drawn into a bohemian circle of charismatic figures whose views on design, politics, film, and food would ultimately inform the unique culture on which Chez Panisse was founded. Dotted with stories, recipes, photographs, and letters, Coming to My Senses is at once deeply personal and modestly understated, a quietly revealing look at one woman's evolution from a rebellious yet impressionable follower to a respected activist who effects social and political change on a global level through the common bond of food.