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| My Alice Waters Sighting |
| Sunday, October 14, 2007 |
 Alice Waters has been ubiquitous lately. Serious Eats discussed her guest spot on The View, as did the Amateur Gourmet (who also admitted he Tivos the show). Adam from the Amateur Gourmet featured a video of Alice Waters at the Union Square Greenmarket. If you remember, I made her Warm Olives, inspired by Becky's post at Day Street Pages. Bex had read the article about Alice in the NY Times (because she actually reads the Times and I just wait until she emails me something interesting). And so I was very excited when a note about her appearance in New Haven landed in my inbox.
She was brought to New Haven by the Yale Sustainable Food Project, which also has a booth at the Cityseed Market that I stop by at every week. She spoke at Battel Chapel, a place that has horrible lighting and is built in the New England church tradition--so we sat in pews as Alice stood at the podium, the sheep of her "eat local, eat seasonal" flock.
 She was pretty much preaching to the choir, but I think the amazing thing was that there is a large enough group of people to fill most of the chapel. I didn't necessarily gather any new information, although it was wonderful to hear details about the Edible Schoolyard. Once she quoted John Dewey and said she was a Montessori teacher, the whole concept of "gardening and cooking as curriculum" made perfect sense--and it also made sense why I liked her.
One of the questions during the Q&A was "How do I learn how to cook?" Alice jokingly said, "Buy my book," but used the question to explain why a place like the Edible Schoolyard is so important. I wonder, though, what is an older person to do, someone who really feels like a kitchen is an alien world? I thought of an eating and cooking club--and then, of course, I thought of hosting one. How wonderful would it be to bring 5 or 6 people who truly want to learn into a kitchen...and teach them?
A once-monthly meet-up at the market, picking up fresh food, then off to a kitchen (mine or someone's) and a fantastic afternoon of cooking, with plenty of red or white wine to carry us to a huge supper. Sigh. I think Alice would approve. Anyone up for a November meal? |
posted by Rose @ 10:31 AM  |
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