Alice Louise Waters is an American restaurant owner, chef, author, activist, and mother. Born April 28, 1944 in Chatham, New Jersey, she is currently the owner of Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California famous for using organic locally-grown ingredients in its cuisine. Waters graduated with a degree in French Cultural Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967, after transferring from UC Santa Barbara. During her junior year in college, she studied abroad in Paris. It was during this time that “her whole world opened up” and she realized that in France, “life and food were seamlessly woven together.” After graduation, she taught at a local Montessori school, which she loved because the Montessori philosophy is…show more content… The restaurant is named after a character in Marcel Pagnol's film trilogy Marius, Fanny and Csar (Waters also later named her daughter Fanny after one of the main characters). When the restaurant lost a substantial amount of money in the first three months, Waters realized she needed help running the business and turned to a friend, Gene Opton, who owned a cookware store locally. Opton helped pay Chez Panisse’s bills and eventually became an investor in the restaurant. By 1975 Chez Panisse was revitalized and received a glowing review in Gourmet magazine. The reviews caused the restaurant to become extremely busy, and Waters had to work hard to stay true to its mission of “being a simple, homey place where people could eat wonderful food.” One of the defining parts of Waters’ restaurant philosophy is that she and the chefs have always worked to develop relationships with farmers. Learning about food and where it comes from has also always been important to her. Her overall vision revolves around growing food locally, eating it in season, producing it without pesticides, and preserving it for the winter…show more content… It was consistently ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants from 2002 to 2008, and held a Michelin star from 2006 to 2009. Waters has long been considered “one of the most influential figures in food in the past 50 years,” and has been called “the mother of American food.” She is currently one of the most active and visible supporters of the organic food movement in the United States and around the world. Waters has become a crusader for organic foods in her belief that they are better for the environment and for people's health, in addition to tasting far better than commercially-grown, non-organic foods.
Waters has also authored several books on food and cooking, including Chez Panisse Cooking (with Paul Bertolli), 40 Years of Chez Panisse, The Art of Simple Food (I and II), and Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea. As Waters says in The Art of Simple Food, “Food tastes naturally delicious when it has been gown with care, harvested at the right moment, and brought to us immediately, direct from the producer.” The impact of her organic and healthy food revolution can be seen by example in First Lady Michelle Obama's White House organic vegetable