Description

From chef and food activist Alice Waters, an impassioned plea for a radical reconsideration of the way each and every one of us cooks and eats

InWe Are What We Eat,Alice Waters urges us to take up the mantle of slow food culture, the philosophy at the core of her lifes work.When Waters first opened Chez Panisse in 1971, she did so with the intention of feeding people good food during a time of political turmoil. Customers responded to the locally sourced organic ingredients, to the dishes made by hand, and to the welcoming hospitality that infused the small spacehuman qualities that were disappearing froma country increasingly seduced by takeout, frozen dinners, and prepackaged ingredients. Waters came to see that the phenomenon of fast food culture, whichprioritized cheapness,availability, and speed, was not only ruining our health, but also dehumanizing the ways we live and relate to one another.

Overyears of working with regional farmers, Waters and her partners learned how geography and seasonal fluctuations affect the ingredients on the menu, as well as about the dangers of pesticides, the plight offieldworkers, and the social, economic, and environmental threats posed by industrial farming and food distribution. Somany of the serious problems we face in the worldtodayfrom illness, to socialunrest, to economic disparity, and environmental degradationare all, at their core, connected to food. Fortunately, there is an antidote.Waters argues thatbyeating in a slow food way, each of uslike the community aroundherrestaurantcanbe empowered to prioritize and nurture a different kind of culture, one that champions values such as biodiversity, seasonality, stewardship, and pleasure in work.

This is a declaration of action against fast food values, and a working theory about what we can do to change the course. As Waters makes clear, every decision we make about what we put in our mouths affects not only our bodies but also the world at largeour families, our communities, and our environment. We have the power to choose what we eat, and we have the potential for individual and global transformationsimply by shifting ourrelationship to food. All it takes is a taste.

Description

From chef and food activist Alice Waters, an impassioned plea for a radical reconsideration of the way each and every one of us cooks and eats

In We Are What We Eat,Alice Waters urges us to take up the mantle of slow food culture, the philosophy at the core of her lifes work.When Waters first opened Chez Panisse in 1971, she did so with the intention of feeding people good food during a time of political turmoil. Customers responded to the locally sourced organic ingredients, to the dishes made by hand, and to the welcoming hospitality that infused the small spacehuman qualities that were disappearing froma country increasingly seduced by takeout, frozen dinners, and prepackaged ingredients. Waters came to see that the phenomenon of fast food culture, whichprioritized cheapness,availability, and speed, was not only ruining our health, but also dehumanizing the ways we live and relate to one another.

Overyears of working with regional farmers, Waters and her partners learned how geography and seasonal fluctuations affect the ingredients on the menu, as well as about the dangers of pesticides, the plight offieldworkers, and the social, economic, and environmental threats posed by industrial farming and food distribution. Somany of the serious problems we face in the worldtodayfrom illness, to socialunrest, to economic disparity, and environmental degradationare all, at their core, connected to food. Fortunately, there is an antidote.Waters argues thatbyeating in a slow food way, each of uslike the community aroundherrestaurantcanbe empowered to prioritize and nurture a different kind of culture, one that champions values such as biodiversity, seasonality, stewardship, and pleasure in work.

This is a declaration of action against fast food values, and a working theory about what we can do to change the course. As Waters makes clear, every decision we make about what we put in our mouths affects not only our bodies but also the world at largeour families, our communities, and our environment. We have the power to choose what we eat, and we have the potential for individual and global transformationsimply by shifting ourrelationship to food. All it takes is a taste.