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Recipes and Lessons from a Delicious Cooking Revolution

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A champion of organic, locally produced and seasonal food and founder of acclaimed Californian restaurant Chez Panisse, Alice Waters has previously been awarded the Légion d'honneur in France for her contributions to food culture. In this book, she explores the simplest of dishes in the most delicious of ways, with fresh, sustainable ingredients a must, even encouraging cooks to plant their own garden.

From orange and olive salad to lemon curd and ginger snaps, Waters constantly emphasizes the joys and ease of cooking with local, fresh food, whether in soups, salads or sensual, classic desserts.

This edition is part of the Great Food series designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

121 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

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About the author

Alice Waters

106 books434 followers
Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995 she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for a free school lunch for all children and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school.

She has been Vice President of Slow Food International since 2002. She conceived and helped create the Yale Sustainable Food Project in 2003, and the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome in 2007.

Her honors include election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007; the Harvard Medical School’s Global Environmental Citizen Award, which she shared with Kofi Annan in 2008; and her induction into the French Legion of Honor in 2010. In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act, and that the table is a powerful means to social justice and positive change.

Alice is the author of fifteen books, including New York Times bestsellers The Art of Simple Food I & II and The Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea.

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Ape.
1,979 reviews38 followers
February 19, 2016
Um.... yeah.... no. This wee book didn't really grab me. The thing I like most is the front cover. OK, I agree with some of what she's saying - we should eat more seasonally, we should think more about what we eat, where it comes from, how it's produced, but there's something in the tone of the writing that just made me think of the priviledged American homemakers and lifestyle gurus - in particular Ms Paltrow; and I just find it all a bit condescending. I don't know. And I wasn't particularly blown away by any of the recipe suggestions. Maybe her proper full-on recipe books are better, but I don't know whether I'll ever bother to find out.
Profile Image for Mindy Yeh.
3 reviews
April 1, 2020
Really enjoyed reading this and really improved my day to day average culinary skills
947 reviews
August 23, 2019
This book was a major disappointment. It was one I was really looking foward to, but it absolutely didn't work for me.
First, Waters is kind of an elitist cook. Your chicken stock must be crystal clear and you need a proper recipe to make it. Uh, no. You need to know how to make stock, but a precise recipe including a store-bought chicken, isn't the way to go. Perfectly good cakes can be made without separating the eggs. Ice creams don't have to be custard-based. Etc.
Second, Waters is an American writer, but this edition has been translated into British English. (Other books in the series have not been similarly tampered with that I've seen.) Ingredient names have been changed without mentioning the original name. (Broad beans are favas.) Worse, Waters clearly uses American measuring standards in this book, but they've been briticized (and badly sometimes) so that some of her commentary becomes meaningless. E.g., for rice she discusses the 2-to-1 volume ratio for making rice. The recipe given after this discussion uses metric weight, making nonsense of her discussion and of an easy-to-remember rule.
Bletch, bad taste in my mouth.
2,781 reviews9 followers
January 8, 2015
A great book that encompasses most aspects of modern cookery from sauces, salads, biscuits, soups, breads, rice, pasta and many more topics with a chapter devoted to each this is a great all rounder for a new cook just starting out.
Well written but not patronising if you are a novice and as described above each topic is cut down into handy sections.
Even though I enjoy cooking I also picked up a few hints and tips I haven't heard of or tried before.
Well worth reading for any foodies out there.
Profile Image for E.
151 reviews16 followers
November 20, 2015
This pretty little book is basically cooking 101, breaking down the simplest recipes you can't live without. With a tasty little twist and plenty good advice.
Profile Image for Lucy.
269 reviews19 followers
December 13, 2015
Loved this! Will definitely look out for more of her books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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