Everything Alice Waters said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Waters: Paying chefs for five days to work three prevents burnout
“And I think what really has created this long life for the restaurant is the fact that we don't have one person who is the main chef of the restaurant. We have two people, and they share their job, They work three days, and then they're paid for five. And it a…”
Waters: Scratch-Cooked School Lunches Can Fit USDA Reimbursement Budgets
“I know that we can make school lunch that can even fit into the minuscule budget of the USDA reimbursement. If we know how to cook, and we do not buy fast food, if we buy the food from the people who are doing it right, and directly,”
Waters: Chez Panisse was partly funded by Berkeley pot dealers
“It's true.”
Waters: Industrial food corporations greenwash products using farm-to-table buzzwords
“I'm troubled by it. I'm very troubled about the labeling on packages and what, how people are taking the values of our movement and greenwashing their industrial products.”
Waters: An Organic Chicken Can Yield Three Meals for Family of Four
“I mean, I say that I can buy an organic chicken, and I can make at least three meals out of it for a family of four.”
Waters: US agriculture prioritized yield and shippability over flavor
“Well, I always thought we were a country that didn't have deep roots in agriculture, growing food for taste. We always grew it for quantity and shipability, but never flavor. And we never had a strong sense of the table As a place of conversation and pleasure,…”
Waters: Franchising Chez Panisse Would Compromise Values for Money
“I just couldn't imagine, knowing how franchises work, that there would ever be a way. ... Feels like selling out. I hate to use that term too, but it feels like I'm doing it just to make the money.”
Waters: Back-to-the-Land Movement Will Revitalize the Rural Economy
“The grow your own back to the land movement. It's something that I hope happens again and soon because that is what is going to bring us a rural economy.”
Waters: I consider myself a cook and critic, not a chef
“I see myself as a really good cook. And I see myself as a great critic and taster. And I'm not a chef, chef.”
Waters: Chez Panisse survived COVID shutdowns via bridge loans from friends
“We had the good luck to get a kind of bridge loan from some wonderful friends of the restaurant that are helping us get to the point where money comes from the government to pay people.”
Waters: Stockton relief initiative distributed over 4,000 pounds of farm food
“We've given at least 4000 pounds of food away and stocked it.”
Waters: Parents mortgaged their home to launch Chez Panisse
“And my parents mortgaged their house.”
Waters: Chez Panisse pioneered crediting specific farmers and producers on menus
“We started writing their names on the cafe list. That this came from Bob Kennard's farm. That this came from Dal Porto's ranch. That this was Mas Masamoto's peach. And identifying the people who were growing and raising the food, we became in a way co-producer…”
Waters: Chez Panisse's opening night set menu cost $3.95
“I think it was three 95.”
Waters: Chez Panisse Granted Equity to Instrumental Staff and Outside Investors
“We formed a corporation, and we had people that Brought money. Bought stock in this. And that helped us to run the restaurant. But I also gave shares to the people that were instrumental.”
Waters: Hands-On Labor Teaches the True Value of Operational Roles
“Which is a big Montessori idea, that actually doing that work, that you're learning about its value, and what is critical, and what it really means to clean up the restaurant after hours, and what those people needed to be paid, what a dishwasher should be pai…”