Alice Waters appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to promote her new book, In the Green Kitchen. She presented Maher with a basket of fresh produce, including lemons picked from Berkeley’s Edible Schoolyard. She talked about slow food and how it doesn’t necessarily mean slow-cooked food. “I could have a slow-food hot dog if I cared where the meat came for the hot dog, where the bun came from, where the ketchup came from, where the mustard came from, where the onions came from.”
Other highlights from the interview: Alice was originally afraid to be in the kitchen, some naked hippies once streaked through Chez Panisse, and she once tried to steer Bill Clinton away from some blackberry ice cream because she thought he should be eating a peach instead.
Watch Part 1 above and Part 2 below.
[Via: Grub Street San Francisco]
Berkeleyside on Twitter
I watched this episode with interest as I have never seen AW interviewed before. I live close to the Edible Schoolyard and Monterey Market where she supposedly shops.
I was disappointed by how little she actually said. She defined Slow Eating as caring where your food comes from but didn’t say why we should all care. Is she most concerned with health, with the environmental impact, or with ethically grown food? Her claim that schools should provide free breakfast, lunch and snack is interesting, but is there a plan for that?
I felt frustrated at the end of this interview. I wanted more.