“I call my vision Edible Education: education transformed through the growing, cooking, and sharing of delicious, wholesome food. In 1995, I founded the Chez Panisse Foundation to support a program called The Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom in a public school in Berkeley, California. Here, students participate in an ecological and gastronomical curriculum connected to all subjects from math to language arts.
My work at The Edible Schoolyard has proven that when students grow food and cook it themselves, they all want to eat it. When people ask me how they can bring simple, wholesome food into their lives, I usually start by suggesting that they plan, cook, and eat family meals together. No matter how modest the meal, create a special place to sit down together and set the table with care and respect. Share the ritual of the table and the seasonal, ripe, and irresistible fruits and vegetables.
Mealtime is a time for empathy and generosity, a time to nourish and communicate. I’m delighted that this global website will make it easier for families to come to the table, and back to their senses!” — Alice Waters
