Alice Waters Cooks Up a Food Revolution

October 11, 2021
Two previous collaborators (Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science) tell the story of white restaurateur Alice Waters and her determination to change the way America thought—and thinks—about food. Stanley starts with Waters’s early delight in the strawberries from her family’s garden (“The taste thrills her to the bone”) and her disappointment with the convenience food her family switches to in the winter (“It’s modern! It’s easy!”). A university year in France in the 1960s shows Alice that good food doesn’t have to be expensive; the cheapest bowl of soup in a café proves “THE BEST! SOUP! EVER!” Back in California, Alice buys an old house and opens a restaurant, staffed by her friends and serving foods produced by small farms and suppliers. Folk spreads by Hartland are crammed with pots and pans, as well as colorfully labeled boxes of fruits and vegetables. Waters’s influence, Stanley says, “has changed the way people everywhere... think about food.” While eating in upscale restaurants may not be on every family’s menu, Waters’s one-woman crusade to eat locally and seasonally resonates to this day—and throughout this straightforward picture book biography. Back matter includes more information, a bibliography, and timeline. Ages 4–8.

December 15, 2021
When she was a little girl, Alice Waters picked fresh strawberries from the yard of her family's New Jersey home. All summer, her family would make delicious food using fresh produce from the garden. The story jumps forward to Alice's college years in France, where she is amazed by the quality of the food--all made with fresh ingredients. She brings the French style of food preparation back to the U.S., where she eventually opens a restaurant--with the help of friends and patrons--called Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Alice wants nothing less than to serve the best food ever, made with fresh, local ingredients. Bucking the trend of buying products from giant agribusiness, she drives all over Northern California establishing partnerships with small farms that become her suppliers. Alice's passion for natural, healthy food starts the farm-to-table and slow food movements, revolutionizing food culture and giving children more access to fresh fruit and vegetables. The present-tense narrative lends immediacy to the story, and Hartland's detailed gouache illustrations impart a sense of joy and adventure. An interesting sketch of a pioneering restaurateur that will be sure to inspire budding cooks and changemakers. (appendix, timeline, bibliography) (Picture book biography. 5-8)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 29, 2022

Gr 2-5-Stanley covers tireless Alice Waters, who has always wanted to ensure everyone has access to healthy locally grown food. The book begins with Waters's childhood, when she experienced wholesome food from her family's garden in New Jersey. A college semester in France led her to discover an array of vibrant food and its origins. Unsure of her life path, she established a restaurant serving innovative farm-raised foods in a family-style setting. Little by little, Stanley charts Waters's path to the creation the Edible Schoolyard initiative. Readers may relate to Waters as she discovers the importance of healthy cuisine. Pictures, created in gouache, add color and energy to the story. Some vocabulary may not be familiar to younger readers. Notes in the back matter explain more on Waters's life and times, including a time line and bibliography, for a consistently appealing look at a truly marvelous American icon. VERDICT The conversation about food and healthy eating continues to drift down to younger readers and would-be chefs; this will have a ready place on the shelves or in classrooms teaching about the small-farm movement in America. Recommended.-Elena Schuck

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2022
Through Chez Panisse, her renowned Berkeley, California, restaurant (which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2021), chef Alice Waters began a "food revolution [that] changed the way people everywhere -- from home cooks to great restaurant chefs -- think about food." Influenced by her early travels and culinary adventures in France, Waters created a small restaurant in an old house and went about cooking in the French spirit: one set menu that changed daily, and the best local produce she could find. Stanley creates child appeal by opening her story with young Alice in 1948 in her family garden in Chatham, New Jersey, enjoying the freshest summer fruits and vegetables -- strawberries, tomatoes, corn, peppers, and lettuce. When fall comes, however, the family must eat processed food, frozen or canned in factories. The contrasts are clearly depicted in bright, naive-style gouache illustrations that support the clear prose here and throughout the accessible, enjoyable book, a repeat collaboration for author and illustrator (Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science, rev. 1/17). Back matter provides more information about Waters and her Edible Schoolyard initiative; a timeline; and an excellent bibliography that includes works for adult and child readers. Pair with Waters's own picture books (Fanny at Chez Panisse and Fanny in France) and with Martin's Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from December 15, 2021
Preschool-Grade 3 *Starred Review* Childhood memories of eating strawberries picked in her backyard and summer dinners with produce from her family's garden, combined with a college year spent studying in France, inspired Alice Waters' desire to eat fresh, flavorful food. Teaching herself cooking by reading cookbooks and watching Julia Child's TV show, she made dinners for friends in college. Later, she opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant dedicated to serving fresh, organic, local food from small farms. Initially staffed with friends, the restaurant became famous, and Waters became an influential voice in the growing conversation about what is lost when a society chooses heavily processed food and the interests of agribusiness over the benefits of food grown locally using traditional farming methods. Stanley's informative narrative reads aloud beautifully, changing its cadence at times for dramatic effect. She connects readers with significant memories of Waters' childhood and college years, before showing how those experiences led to her path in adulthood. Hartland contributes a series of spirited gouache paintings, including paired scenes contrasting young Alice at the family dinner table in summer, enjoying an abundance of fresh fish, fruits, and vegetables, and in fall, grimly facing an accumulation of canned and frozen "convenience" foods. A lively picture-book biography of an influential woman.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2022
Through Chez Panisse, her renowned Berkeley, California, restaurant (which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2021), chef Alice Waters began a "food revolution �that] changed the way people everywhere -- from home cooks to great restaurant chefs -- think about food." Influenced by her early travels and culinary adventures in France, Waters created a small restaurant in an old house and went about cooking in the French spirit: one set menu that changed daily, and the best local produce she could find. Stanley creates child appeal by opening her story with young Alice in 1948 in her family garden in Chatham, New Jersey, enjoying the freshest summer fruits and vegetables -- strawberries, tomatoes, corn, peppers, and lettuce. When fall comes, however, the family must eat processed food, frozen or canned in factories. The contrasts are clearly depicted in bright, naive-style gouache illustrations that support the clear prose here and throughout the accessible, enjoyable book, a repeat collaboration for author and illustrator (Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science, rev. 1/17). Back matter provides more information about Waters and her Edible Schoolyard initiative; a timeline; and an excellent bibliography that includes works for adult and child readers. Pair with Waters's own picture books (Fanny at Chez Panisse and Fanny in France) and with Martin's Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)