05-09-2016
Alice Waters is one of the most important and influential people in American gastronomy. With her restaurant Chez Panisse, opened in 1971 in Berkeley, she gave life to a style later called California cuisine. She’s also the vice president of Slow Food International and has always been a very active supporter of organic farming and sustainable food
This story starts a few months ago when we published an article in which we playfully tried to list and map the styles of pizza that have appeared in the US in the recent past. On that occasion, during our research, we found out that Alice Waters, already unanimously considered a pioneer, if not the creator of California cuisine, had been one of the very first to want a wood oven in her restaurant, the notorious Chez Panisse in Berkeley. The news intrigued us. We thus tried to contact the great American chef – we still call her like chef, even though she left the kitchen now many years ago, focusing on the management of the restaurant, her books and her many projects, often dedicated to the food education of the younger generations. You need a little patience to reach such a busy person, but we finally managed to speak with her on the phone, a long and fun conversation we’re publishing in two episodes. We dedicate the first, of course, to the initial input that led us to call her. Alice Waters and pizza: how was this love born? «In the late Seventies I was Italy with a group of friends. We were travelling to Switzerland and stopped in Torino. Suddenly we noticed the fire in the wood oven of a small restaurant: we went inside and had a pizza. It was unforgettable. I had never seen pizza made that way, from the oven and straight to your table. I immediately thought I wanted the same at Chez Panisse too».
The wood oven at Chez Panisse
Alice Waters published a cook book (also) dedicated to pizza
Alice Waters in the kitchen at the American Academy in Rome
Reviews, recommendations and trends from the four corners of the planet, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose
by
Journalist, based in Milan. At 8 years old, he received a Springsteen record as a gift, and nothing was the same since. Music and food are his passions. Author and broadcaster at Radio Popolare since 1997, since 2014 he became part of the staff of Identità Golose Instagram: @NiccoloVecchia