Alice Waters Goes To Washington To Cook Dinner

WASHINGTON--Über-chef Alice Waters says "I never voted again" after her great friend, journalist-activist Bob Scheer, lost his 1966 anti-Vietnam primary challenge to the Democratic establishment's congressman. The man whose campaign Waters ran from her Bay Area apartment helped spawn a movement to end the war.

She channeled her own considerable zeal into Chez Panisse, the world-class Berkeley restaurant she built by championing local/organic/seasonal/sustainable food. In later years, she pushed for home and schoolyard gardens, along with a national crash course in the making of affordable, good-for-you meals.

Fast-forward to 2008, when Waters, 64, returned to politics, raising big bucks for Barack Obama and smaller bucks for Hillary Clinton. In November, she cast her first presidential vote in more than four decades.

Now she's heading east to celebrate, and to start prepping for what is easily the inauguration's hottest foodie fete: a dinner for 150 people who've ponied up $500 each to sup on whatever she buys during her Sunday morning visit to a local farmers' market.

Aided by a group of local culinistas, Waters hopes the Monday night menu will feature Chesapeake Bay oysters and crostini; rockfish soup and a confit of saffron-spiked tomatoes, though if the fish don't look so great, she'll shift to winter vegetables; shoulder of local lamb with salsa verde, and an apple tart.

There will be no fussy wine pairings, "just a red and a white" from California donated by friends. Yes, she knows the Henriot champagne, made in France, is hardly carbon-neutral.

"You try to eat as locally as possible, but then you make exceptions" for such long-distance staples as olive oil and good bubbly.

Waters also knows that in tough economic times, people struggling to pay the rent or stay employed might find organic food too costly. This is why she thinks all our homes, including the White House, should have vegetable gardens, why we should learn to can and pickle summer's bounty for year-round eating, and why we should buy whole chickens rather than pricey parts, and use even the necks, backs and bones.

Waters -- whose dinner is at the Phillips Collection, that temple of Impressionist art near Dupont Circle -- is one of a dozen famed chefs from around the country preparing meals Monday night, though the other dinners are in Washington-area homes.

Proceeds from these feasts ($350 of each $500 ticket) will go to two city soup kitchens and to FRESHFARM Markets, which oversees eight markets in DC and Maryland; last year it gave more than eight tons of leftover crops gleaned from farm fields to anti-hunger groups.

"In Washington," she says, "we are trying to come back to the table, where we gather friends and family, where we want to eat together because the food is nourishing and tasty."

And--who are we kidding?--because Alice Waters is in the kitchen.

Comments

[jamesdaddio]

I love the idea of the white house having a garden and green house where local and fresh herbs and vegtables can be ha

[Rule Of Law]

While I appreciate Water's passion for all things edible and the environment in which they grow, I have always been uneasy with how readily she has assumed the mantle of creator of "California Cuisine."

Her restaurant, founded in 1971, was predated by several years by practitioners of the healthful, regional, and seasonal based menus being prepared at any number of Northern Californian spas such as the world famous Sonoma Mission Inn. Her energy and commitment are legendary, as is her skill in the kitchen, but there should be plenty of credit to go around that can be shared with some of the pioneers who paved the way for the Chez Pannises of the world.

[skippyB]

This is exciting! Please follow through with the menu - I'm curious about what the ingredients will be in the DC region. My wish is that we had some kind of national awareness and celebration of the earth in our yards and how to prepare nutritious, healthy food in interesting ways that are cost and value effective, from urban to rural areas. Thanks for the article - this is good news.

[wavedanzer]

I wish we'd see a plant-based main course as an alternative to the lamb. Killing a sweet baby animal should never be part of any life-affirming celebration. And remember, vegetarian is better for the planet. I am hopeful that Obama's puppy-loving daughters will become vegetarian and show him the way. Peace begins on our plates, as does non - violence!
Thanks for reading.

[Vickster]

A lamb usually weighs somewhere around eighty to one hundred pounds when he reaches four months, the age that most lambs are slaughtered. In other words, he is no longer a sweet little baby.

[skippyB]

I know you mean well, but what about those sweet oysters and the fish. Fish aren't sweet creatures? This woman has done more for the appreciation of all ingredients - how the lamb is raised and treated - how organic heirloom vegetables and fruits are raised - how the soil is renewed, how the fish is caught.... but what I get from her books, some of which are gorgeous to look at, is that conscious, respectful sourcing, cooking and eating is an enormous pleasure, and a wonderful part of life.

[myna]

What does puppy-loving have to do with vegetarianism? It's statements like these that give vegetarianism a stereotype of being kooky.

[Zoe2]

I love Alice Waters. She is not flashy but she is all substance. She is in a category of her own like Julia Childs.

[LABC]

Having tried a couple of her recipes, I think those folks are in for a serious treat. Good cause too!

[lizr]

Go Alice!! You are great!

I only hope the O/DLC connection doesnt sour her again on Dem politics.