It was 1963, in Paris, while walking through the fruit and
vegetable market Alice Waters was struck by the display of brilliant
colors, the music of farmers selling their produce, and in the middle of
a great city, she felt "directly connected to the land." Chez
Panisse, a Berkeley restaurant, which was founded upon Waters'
ecological philosophy and which, has been named "The Best
Restaurant in America" by both the James Beard Foundation and by
Gourmet magazine, many times in the past. Only the food grown in
accordance with the principles of sustainable agriculture was used in
the restaurant. Menus offered nightly at Chez Panisse have consisted
only of fresh ingredients, harvested in season, and purchased from local
farmers.
Alice Waters has successfully demonstrated how a restaurant can
flourish while contributing to the general welfare of the farming
community. Sharing a meal between the people was one of the wishes of
Alice Waters as she would love her customer's to know each other. In
1996, inspired by The Garden Project at the San Francisco County Jail,
Waters decided to apply her principles to education. The project was
initiated at the Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley with the
idea to transform some land near the school into a garden and, in the
process, to teach local school children about food and agriculture. In
1999, over 120 people came to help plant the first cover crop, which
prepared the field for cultivation by adding nutrients to the soil.
The student garden staff has had several years' worth of harvest, and
has started growing gardens like herb and tea. Here, agricultural
practices are continually being revised and updated and every year the
Schoolyard staff attends the Ecological Farming Conference in Monterey.
A kitchen classroom has also been created, where students learn about
staple foods eaten in other parts of the world.
"I believe that every child in this world needs to have a
relationship with the land...to know how to nourish themselves...and to
know how to connect with the community around them," says Waters.
The middle school has become a model in itself. The students cultivate
and harvest the crops, while the cafeteria buys and prepares the produce
for school lunches. This program will go a long way in teaching kids to
value fresh food and their own contributions. This project is sure to
inspire a national change in school curricula. In fact, many middle and
high schools in California and Ohio have launched similar projects. In
1997, Alice Waters received the Humanitarian Award from the James Beard
Foundation in recognition of her dedication and contribution towards
environment. In 1999, the United States Department of Education
Secretary, Richard Riley, honored her with a John H. Stanford "Education
Hero" award.
