Alice Waters Cooks Up a Food Revolution

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. (Jan.)