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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Alice Waters To TV? Food Legend Mulls PBS Gig
  • Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:01:46 -0600


Alice Waters "has created a program that works brilliantly for her
community. She has found a way to get everyone on board and really teaches
kids and adults about proper food. And she teaches them to really enjoy and
cherish it too. Her books bring her recipes to everyone. There's nothing
elitist about that."
-- Jamie Oliver

Alice Waters To TV? Food Legend Mulls PBS Gig
MICHELLE LOCKE | 04/21/10 05:04 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/alice-waters-to-tv-food-l_n_548168.html

The California-based food activist says she's exploring new ways of spreading
her message about the importance of fresh, local food and supporting the
farmers who grow it, including a possible TV show, though talks for that
still are in the early stages.

"I want so much for this message about food to reach people," Waters said in
an interview.

Waters put her quest for new connections into action Wednesday, participating
in an online video conference that saw her taking questions about cooking and
food policy from her Berkeley kitchen. She earlier held a similar session
with bloggers.

The notion of eating fresh and local never has been more popular. Chefs from
Rachael Ray to Paula Deen are talking about the importance of nutrition,
Michelle Obama is leading a national charge against child obesity, and Jamie
Oliver recently turned his effort to reform the diet of a West Virginia town
into a hit reality television program.

"It's so unbelievably gratifying," said Waters. "I think we're all talking
about real food vs. imitation food. That's the place we need to go."

Waters, who opened her landmark Chez Panisse restaurant in 1971, has been
widely praised for programs such as The Edible Schoolyard that she started at
a Berkeley middle school, and has since spread elsewhere, teaching students
about food, health, and the environment. But she's also been criticized as
being out-of-touch with average working families, partly because of her
message that good food is worth paying a premium for.

Waters reiterated her belief that good food is a good investment. "You either
pay up front, or you pay out back," she said. "You either pay in your health
and your way of life and the health of the planet or you come into a new
relationship with food."

But Waters – whose latest book "In the Green Kitchen," features simple
techniques from a number of chefs – said eating well doesn't have to mean a
big expense. Eating meat every day is expensive, but learning how to cook
different things, such as inexpensive lentils and chickpeas or faro is not.
"It's what this book is all about. It's really about demystifying food."

Oliver, whose ABC show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," documents his
efforts to change eating habits in Huntington, W.Va., said in an e-mail that
Waters "has created a program that works brilliantly for her community. She
has found a way to get everyone on board and really teaches kids and adults
about proper food. And she teaches them to really enjoy and cherish it too.
Her books bring her recipes to everyone. There's nothing elitist about that."

Waters said that if she does a television show, she would like it to be on
public television.

"Some of my heroes of cooking have been on PBS in the past," she said. The
show might feature guests, famous or not, farmers and suppliers to Chez
Panisse. "I feel like I need to be in a place where I can bring a lot of
different people into that kitchen."





  • [Livingontheland] Alice Waters To TV? Food Legend Mulls PBS Gig, Tradingpost, 04/22/2010

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