シェ・パニースのキッチン―カリフォルニア・オーガニックレストラン [Kariforunia ōganikku resutoran She Panīsu no kitchin]

by Alice Waters, Sakahara Mikiko (translator)

Seven-year-old Fanny describes her adventures with food and cooking at her mother's restaurant in Berkeley, California. Includes forty-two recipes.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Childrens, Food and Drink, Picture Books

133 pages, Tankobon Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming, beautiful, elegant and magical. Yes a bit preachy, and no child is probably going to start making their own "Halibut Baked On a Fig Leaf" instead of asking for Kraft Mac n' Cheese.

[Amanda Espinoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so cute. I visited Chez Panisse this summer and saw this at my library. I enjoyed reading more about the quirky restaurant and it's people.

[Tryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cookbook written from the perspective of a little girl who grows up in and around her mother's famous restaurant. The illustrations are charming and the descriptions of restaurant life revealing. I'm fascinated with the author, mother, restaurant owner, and all-around foodie, Alice Waters. The recipes she included here are simple (salsa), seasonal (blackberry ice-cream), nutritious (cucumber riata), sometimes unusual (candied orange peel), traditional (chicken stock), often kid-friendly (homemade pizza), and distinctive (garlic mayonnaise). I've checked the book out from the library three times and always keep it as long as they will let me renew it. I guess I should just break down and buy my own copy!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet! The 1-2-3-4 cake is excellent. My daughter made the lemon curd from Fanny in France, and we included it as a layer and top too, to which we added fresh fruit.
We all stayed up late one night making the ginger snaps also which were delicious. Wonderful, wonderful books for kids and parents!

[Natalie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in the free stack at my local library and what a lovely find. The book is written for kids so the story and illustrations are charming and the recipes are simple and easy for anyone. What an experience as a child to be exposed to the wonderful world of fresh and seasonal world of foods, smells and tastes.

[willa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very sweet... the artwork is beautiful and I really want to try out the recipes in the back. When I was little, I actually dined in Chez Panisse and it was a wonderful experience that actually inspired my love of cooking. I wanted to create my own restaurant after that. This book feels very nostalgic for me.

[Tana Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very charming book.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book in the nineties. I was never remotely a cook. This book, geared for children, taught me more than anything I have ever learned elsewhere. I had no idea who Alice Waters was (Fanny's mother) but this single book led me to many wonderful discoveries. I still refer to this cookbook many times.

[Gaili Schoen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful book for the young chefs and restauranteurs in your life. It's fairly long, first describing life as the daughter of a restaurant owner, then offering up recipes which children can make. I enjoyed it, and even learned some things about food I didn't know, such as don't use the dark green extra virgin olive oil for cooking; it has a stronger olive taste. Use that for salad dressings and vinaigrettes, and use the lighter yellowing "pure olive oil" for cooking. The illustrations are fun and sweet, and the recipes delicious and interesting.

[Bethany Diekman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some great recipes in the second half of the book that would be great to make with your kids. There are many classic recipes that are wonderful to pass down to the next generation. It’s not “easy” to cook or bake with your children, but they will improve with practice and you all can make many enjoyable memories with this book!

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a sometime resident of Berkeley (and patron of Chez Panisse for my birthday), I really enjoyed this sweet book; my daughter is enjoying it as well as a bedtime read. Charming childhood anecdotes about growing up in a restaurant, and a child's perspective on the kind of food that Alice Waters pioneered (California farm-to-table). Eager to make the 1-2-3-4 cake sometime!

[Cheryl]

I was just curious, and now I'm not. I've never lived where I can get fresh fish, and I can't taste the difference in most items farmer's market vs. supermarket, and I cook to eat, not as an avocation, so, ok, not for me.

Skimmed June 2021

[Meg Winslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

My (then) 8 year old loved this book. My daughter loves to cook and it was nice for her to have something to read that wasn't just-a-cookbook or a younger child's simplified picture book about food.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful story with whimsical illustrations and delicious and simple recipes that a child, with some adult supervision, can make.

[Christine (Tina) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a childhood! I love that Waters wrote these books for her daughter. And, the recipes!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book about food with amazing descriptions for kids (and adults!)
My favorite description is at the end:
"Everyone is eating with his hands, and dessert is served wheever you want it. All my friends are there, and we're eating corn on the cob and salad and tomatoes with aioli and potatoes with ailoi and watermelon-lime juice and pizzas and green beans and garlic bread and warm tortillas with butter and passion fruits (my favorite) and little tangerines and strawberry ice on a stick and, just when I'm about to bite into a cherry tart, my mom wakes me up and says it't time to leave. So I always ask for just one chocolate kiss before we go home."

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is some local foodie proselytizing, as you would expect with any book written by Alice Waters. But the illustrations and stories are charming.

It is a good companion to Marion Cunningham's book for children. MC teaches the mechanics and food science. AW teaches about food as part of an ecosystem and social network. AW also includes more vegetable dishes, but those veggies may not be available if you live outside of Berkeley or some other foodie haven.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this cookbook! Charming drawings, a story and simple yet yummy recipes, some of which I've prepared with children during cooking classes at our local community garden. The recipes in this cookbook are also appropriate for adults. Check it out from your library and be wowed.

Recipes include:
Carrot and parsley soup
Pasta with garlic and parsley
Peach crisp
Blackberry ice cream
Calzones
Halibut baked on a fig leaf
1-2-3-4 cake

[Tracy O · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really is a cookbook for children with wonderful, wonderful illustrations and stories. So, if you want to make guacamole, pasta or pizza you are in the right place. Or, if you just like sweet stories and beautiful pictures this is a nice stop-off place. If you want any Chez Panisse-worthy cooking tips you will have missed your mark with this particular book.

[Astrid Virili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chez Panisse �� un ristorante di Berkeley (California) famoso perch�� la titolare Alice Waters ha riscoperto la cucina con prodotti biologici e locali. Fanny �� la figlia, che in questo libretto deliziosamente illustrato racconta le sue avventure insieme alla madre nel ristorante (in realt�� �� la madre che scrive ma insomma, avete capito). Davvero carino, inoltre ci sono 46 ricette.

[Anina · Rating 4 out of 5]

very cute book about eating and restaurants for school age kids. it's older... i stumbled upon it during my recent shelving stint at chevy chase. it's like a combo diary/food science book/french cookbook and i have never seen anything like it.

[Jana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not quite a recipe book, not quite a children's book, not quite an adult book. The illustrations are nice. I LOVE what Alice Waters stands for, but she can come across as preachy. She did so here.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eavesdrop on the perfect childhood, then eat a piece of the magic.

[Scot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great cookbook to use with children.

[Eryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where my love affair with French started.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

very sweet book. recommended for the little cooks you know

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute - love reading about alice waters - fun to read from her daughters perspective - illustrations are great and theres some good recipes in it too

[Ann Nordquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book...I got it to share with my children when they weer younger and it is a keeper.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures with full descriptions of the food. Fanny also explains all her favorite recipes. Would say this is a good for young readers and pre-cooks.

[Aischa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids are enjoying this as a read aloud...