Alice Waters and Fanny Singer

Alice Waters is the chef, author, and food activist who founded the legendary Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has been a champion of local, sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995, she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for school lunch and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school. She has been a Vice President of Slow Food International since 2002. She conceived and helped create the Yale Sustainable Food Project in 2003 and the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome in 2007. Last month, she was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama. Alice is also the author of 14 books, including The New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.

Fanny Singer is an art historian, curator, and illustrator based in London and Cornwall.

The two have collaborated on a new book, My Pantry, a collection of recipes and illustrations.

Photo Credit: Eric Wolfinger

“My feeling is that we need, as a nation, a cooking lesson.  That’s the first thing, because our fast food culture has told us not to pay any attention, cooking is drudgery, go out and buy and order it in.  If we had any skills before we completely lost them.”

“We have to not believe that we can’t find the food… it’s really not true. There are farmers markets popping up all over the place and if you make the effort to go once or twice a week you can really provide the ingredients for cooking for a family.”

–Alice Waters on Radio Cherry Bombe