cindypager's review against another edition
4.0
This was a delightful read for a foodie like me. Getting to hear Alice's adventures in foodlandia, she shares her back story and the path that led her to Chez Panisse, her acclaimed restaurant in Berkley CA.
indecisivespice's review against another edition
4.0
What a lovely book. I'm a very visual, aesthetic person and learner and the way she describes good and her surroundings is just beautiful. The way she thinks about food and aesthetics really matches up with one of my close friends and her mom, who I adore, so it really was a treat listening to her reading this. Even when she repeated herself I didn't mind.
bkish's review against another edition
2.0
difficult to review cause I do admire alice Waters for her passion about food and quality and service. I ate at Chez panisse few times tho never downstairs prix fixee
I also read her earlier book about how Chez Panisse came into existence not sure name of the book
This book bothered me like it revealed someone I do not like and I want to like her. I cannot reconcile what I interpret as two Alice Waters. This is a woman born with what we call a silver spoon blessed with a healthy family and comfortable financial living and attractive to many men. She seems to be oblivious tho to people as if they exist for her benefit.
I read most of the book and as she began to talk about the birth of her restaurant and her way of cuisine I didnt have any interest to complete the book. I do tho admire someone with a passion for perfection
Judy
I also read her earlier book about how Chez Panisse came into existence not sure name of the book
This book bothered me like it revealed someone I do not like and I want to like her. I cannot reconcile what I interpret as two Alice Waters. This is a woman born with what we call a silver spoon blessed with a healthy family and comfortable financial living and attractive to many men. She seems to be oblivious tho to people as if they exist for her benefit.
I read most of the book and as she began to talk about the birth of her restaurant and her way of cuisine I didnt have any interest to complete the book. I do tho admire someone with a passion for perfection
Judy
jocelynw's review against another edition
3.0
They say that you should never meet your heroes, but I already met Alice Waters at the 2007 Fresno Fig Fest, and that was fine. But having read this, I would append that maybe you shouldn't read their memoirs.
I greatly admire what Alice Waters has done for food in the U.S.; she is one of the people who made it possible to have the career that I did. (The others were the many in the 1960s and 1970s health food movement whose food she looks down on in a passage in this.) I also generally love a bildungsroman. So theoretically this should have been right up my alley.
I kept finding myself mentally remarking on how terribly white-middle-class-mid-20th-century this story was. It wouldn't have been likely earlier as women had fewer opportunities; it wouldn't have been possible later with real estate being what it is in California. Waters undoubtedly made a great thing out of that cultural moment, and she recognizes in passing some of the factors (the Pill, the counterculture) that gave her that opportunity (though she ignores women's lib in general).
And it is clear to me, in her description of her childhood and young adulthood, what led her to become the founder of Chez Panisse. Her appreciation for the beautiful comes through in several ways, but unfortunately the book lacks insight on *why* beauty possesses her so, a sense of what in her early life was the spark that eventually motivated her food philosophy, or how she came to realize that her sensory perception was as unusually sensitive as it is. She does warn us at the beginning that she's not a reflective person by nature, and she's right, at least here.
As the book progressed, I found myself increasingly annoyed by a lack of the sense of the privilege that made it possible to be the person she was: being able to travel abroad, to call on her parents for money repeatedly, to take up training (unpaid) that didn't pan out for her (Montessori). The part of the book that takes account of this best is her afterword, but it's really more an acknowledgement of the impact of the cultural moment rather than an thoroughgoing appreciation of how very fortunate she was.
The person I would most like to hear from is her sister whom she mentions having lived off the grid for five years, and who during that time got into a fight with Alice about the merits of growing organically. (Alice was arguing against then, as the organic produce she had access to then was not up to her size or cosmetic standards.) I wonder what that sister, who was putting her values into very deep practice, has thought over the years about Alice's fame for doing something similar.
I'd like to read a second volume on the many years of running Chez Panisse and her food activism, but given that this one apparently took a decade to produce, I don't expect we'll see that.
I greatly admire what Alice Waters has done for food in the U.S.; she is one of the people who made it possible to have the career that I did. (The others were the many in the 1960s and 1970s health food movement whose food she looks down on in a passage in this.) I also generally love a bildungsroman. So theoretically this should have been right up my alley.
I kept finding myself mentally remarking on how terribly white-middle-class-mid-20th-century this story was. It wouldn't have been likely earlier as women had fewer opportunities; it wouldn't have been possible later with real estate being what it is in California. Waters undoubtedly made a great thing out of that cultural moment, and she recognizes in passing some of the factors (the Pill, the counterculture) that gave her that opportunity (though she ignores women's lib in general).
And it is clear to me, in her description of her childhood and young adulthood, what led her to become the founder of Chez Panisse. Her appreciation for the beautiful comes through in several ways, but unfortunately the book lacks insight on *why* beauty possesses her so, a sense of what in her early life was the spark that eventually motivated her food philosophy, or how she came to realize that her sensory perception was as unusually sensitive as it is. She does warn us at the beginning that she's not a reflective person by nature, and she's right, at least here.
As the book progressed, I found myself increasingly annoyed by a lack of the sense of the privilege that made it possible to be the person she was: being able to travel abroad, to call on her parents for money repeatedly, to take up training (unpaid) that didn't pan out for her (Montessori). The part of the book that takes account of this best is her afterword, but it's really more an acknowledgement of the impact of the cultural moment rather than an thoroughgoing appreciation of how very fortunate she was.
The person I would most like to hear from is her sister whom she mentions having lived off the grid for five years, and who during that time got into a fight with Alice about the merits of growing organically. (Alice was arguing against then, as the organic produce she had access to then was not up to her size or cosmetic standards.) I wonder what that sister, who was putting her values into very deep practice, has thought over the years about Alice's fame for doing something similar.
I'd like to read a second volume on the many years of running Chez Panisse and her food activism, but given that this one apparently took a decade to produce, I don't expect we'll see that.
rglossner's review against another edition
4.0
Alice Waters is one of the most important figures in 20th century American food. She is the founder, owner and executive chef of Chez Panisse, an influential restaurant in Berkeley, and a moving force for local, organic, sustainable food. Waters came of age in Berkeley at the height of the Free Speech movement in the 1960s, was strongly influenced by travel in France, and is a charming witness to some of the biggest changes in society in those years. The audiobook is read by the author.
jenniferk's review against another edition
2.0
Food descriptions spot on. Relationship play by play not so much.
aderobert's review against another edition
4.0
The whole tone of this book was very conversational; it felt like I was sitting across the table from Alice as she meandered through her childhood and young adulthood to tell the story of how Chez Panisse came to be. There wasn’t a strong narrative arc, which maybe feel off-putting for some, but I really enjoyed this book — a slow wander through stories in California and France, with lovely vignettes about the people and the food she loves.
jkplayswithyarn's review against another edition
3.0
I was very happy to take in the story, but felt like it was told in two styles: a narrative that felt like someone telling me a story, and a more formal voice that felt like someone writing a report. And then the afterward was beautiful! The voice was confusing, but ultimately glad to have read it.
alexandrasklar's review against another edition
3.0
Hmm. I think I will stick to her cookbooks. This felt like she was presenting the vision of herself that she wanted the world to see. I was hoping to learn something more real, undiscovered, pure.