Alice Waters setting national agenda

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/09/FDGG1D8S2V.DTL&type=health
Alice Waters push for local, organic setting national agenda
Food crusader Alice Waters is making the rounds to promote her new cookbook.
McDonald's, she told Bill Maher on his TV show, "Real Time," "is never the answer," not even for impoverished families trying to put food on the table. Then, in her signature breathy voice, she lambasted the microwave.
"That's not cooking," Waters said, somewhat flustered that Maher would even ask about the common kitchen appliance. "I don't know how to relate to it. I need a little fire."
Last week on Martha Stewart's program she tried to impress the importance of learning how to chop an onion, peel garlic and make chicken stock.
Food bloggers responded with their usual snark. Waters' appearance on Maher's show was "cringe worthy," wrote Grub Street San Francisco, going on to describe her performance on "Martha" as "loopy." When she roasted an egg on a giant iron spoon in her kitchen fireplace during an earlier "60 Minutes" interview, you could almost hear the nation gagging.
Yet, despite the scorn she sometimes evokes, Waters is steadfast. Her message is hitting its mark.
For nearly 40 years, "St. Alice," as she's been called for her unrepentant views, has touted the importance of eating local, organically grown food; emphasized the necessity of being good stewards of the land; and tirelessly advocated and funded nutritional meal programs in public schools. For many of those years she was mostly ignored, seen as a Berkeley radical whose ideals were not only elitist and unrealistic but also a bit wacky.
But as Americans began grappling with an obesity crisis, and journalists and documentarians began exposing the ills of factory farming, Waters' little movement motored away from the fringes and into the mainstream.First lady on board
Michelle Obama wasted no time in planting an edible garden, some believe at the urging of Waters, on the South Lawn of the White House. Obama's Let's Move campaign, which replaced her predecessor's literacy drive, addresses much of what Waters has been preaching. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" on ABC-TV has taken Waters' message to prime time. Even former President Bill Clinton, famous for his love of Big Macs, has taken up the cause, combining forces with the American Heart Association to form the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
"Alice and people like her, along with my own weight and heart problems, inspired me to take on the issue of childhood obesity," Clinton wrote in an e-mail. The former president says he met Waters while dining at her restaurant Chez Panisse - where the activist supposedly tried to talk him out of blueberry ice cream in favor of a "perfect" peach - and has read her books.
"I know how passionate Alice is about fresh foods and the importance of Americans living healthier lives," he wrote.
This helped inspire Clinton to work with the soda companies to wean students off high-calorie soft drinks and to help schools improve their meals and exercise programs. "The first lady's leadership on this issue will make a big difference," he added. "And Alice's involvement ensures even more success."Thrilled with progress
Waters, 66, couldn't be happier with the momentum.
"I feel empowered," she says while sipping mint tea at her Chez Panisse Cafe, upstairs from the restaurant that inspired the farm-to-fork movement and will celebrate its 40th birthday next year.
And perhaps she feels a bit vindicated.
"I always knew it had to happen," she says. "I just didn't know it would happen so soon.
"These are not my ideas," she continued, a bit teary-eyed. "It's the way people have been eating for hundreds of years."
Still, Chris Lehane, a political consultant who has worked for Al Gore and Bill Clinton, sees Waters as "the George Washington of the movement and Northern California as the 13 colonies."
"If you're going to pick a figure who's responsible for it all, it all comes back to her," says Lehane, adding that even 10 years ago food probably wouldn't have crossed a politician's mind as a public policy issue.
"Not unless you include Ronald Regan calling ketchup a vegetable," he laughs.
But now, Lehane says, people don't see the campaign as more of those "San Francisco values." "This has become a health issue - even in the red states."
About 32 percent of children and adolescents today are obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Being overweight is a health risk that can lead to Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and other life-threatening illnesses.
It's a problem that Waters says has reached emergency levels. In 1996 she created the Chez Panisse Foundation, a nonprofit that, along with the Berkeley Unified School District, pioneered one of the most ambitious and lauded school food programs in the country. First they planted an edible garden at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School that became a model for the rest of the nation. Then they hired renowned school chef Ann Cooper, who made every dish from scratch and bought all the produce from local farms - organic whenever possible.Starting a movement
A.G. Kawamura, California secretary of food and agriculture, says he first met Waters at the edible garden five years ago. Since then, nearly 4,000 gardens have been planted at California schools.
"When we saw how Alice had linked the garden to the cafeteria - a culinary institute so to speak - we were amazed," he says. "It was a great concept that could be duplicated everywhere."
But her contributions haven't stopped at the school cafeteria. Waters, who was recently awarded the French Legion of Honor for her efforts to promote Slow Food, a movement designed to combat fast food, has been a boon to small farms and the local food shed.
Two years ago, she helped organize the first American Slow Food Nation, a four-day political food festival in San Francisco that featured local growers, chefs and nutrition experts.
"She has helped to reintroduce the public to where their food comes from," Kawamura says. "What's really remarkable is that she has been consistent with her message, even if people don't agree with it."
And a lot of people don't - partly because she's rarely willing to compromise. In her new book, "In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart" (see Cook's Books, Page K7), Waters hopes to get Americans back to the stove.Basic cooking
"I'm trying to demystify cooking," she says. "I'm trying to talk about universal and basic techniques so that once you know them you can cook anything."
So if she manages to teach her readers how to whip up a scramble, will it be enough, even if the eggs were bought at Safeway?
"No," she says.
"I want to know where everything comes from," continues Waters, who buys her groceries straight from California farms. "I don't want to have to choose between local and organic. I want both. I don't want to live a half-good life."
That's where her message can start to bug people.
"It's making the task of getting Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables unachievable," says James McWilliams, a food historian at Texas State University. "It's a great example of the perfect being the enemy of the good."A privileged view
McWilliams, who warns against food "primitivism," says Waters' message involves a certain amount of privilege.
"There is a kind of elitism about it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing," he says. "If you have the time and the resources to support the local food-shed, that's great. But there are some who see her as having boutique concerns that are out of touch with where our food worries should be - like how we're going to globally produce 70 percent more food in the next 40 to 50 years."
School chef Cooper, who has left Berkeley Unified to start similar lunch programs in Boulder, Colo., and across the country, says her mentor has certainly been a target for the naysayers.
"When her effort to launch organic lunches at Berkeley High School didn't work, it made the New York Times in a particularly ugly, nasty way," she remembers. "Then there was the Atlantic piece that criticized her Berkeley program. People just seem to like to pick on her. Maybe it's because they perceive her as just a little too precious.
"But in the face of intense adversity she's been unwavering."
The seemingly unflappable Waters has big plans for the future. Tops on her agenda is overhauling the USDA's National School Lunch Program. She's already started lobbying for the federal agency to more than double its budget to feed America's youth, which would include ridding the cafeteria of processed foods such as chicken nuggets and syrup-drenched fruit.
If she has her way, schools would serve more fruits and vegetables bought from nearby growers who use sustainable and organic farming methods.
"I'm trying to focus my energy on the people who can win this race," Waters says. "And there are so many doors that are open right now."
Roast Chicken
Serves 4 to 6
Adapted from "In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart," by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, 2010).
* 1 whole chicken, about 3-4 pounds * -- Salt and fresh-ground pepper, to taste * 3 to 4 sprigs thyme, or other herbs * -- Olive oil, to taste * -- Chicken stock (optional)
Instructions: A day or two ahead of cooking, if possible, remove the neck and giblets from the chicken. If there are any lumps of fat just inside the cavity, pull them out and discard. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and fresh-ground pepper. Put a few sprigs of thyme or other herbs in the cavity, and truss, or tie, the legs together. Tuck the wing tips up and under the back of the neck. Cover loosely and refrigerate.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking and preheat the oven to 400°. Place the chicken in a lightly oiled roasting pan or earthenware dish, breast side up. Roast about 20 minutes, then turn the chicken over, and roast breast side down, for another 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over again, and roast breast side up, for about 20 minutes more. To test for doneness, pierce the leg joint with the tip of a knife; the juice should run clear, not pink. Remove the chicken to a platter to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.
While the chicken is resting, prepare the pan juices. Tilt the pan to one corner and skim off and discard most of the clear fat from the top. Put the pan on the stovetop, add a little chicken stock or water, and scrape loose all the browned bits on the bottom. When carving the chicken, collect all the juice released from the bird and add to the pan juice. Heat the juices and pour over the chicken just before serving, or pass in a bowl at the table.
Per serving: 253 calories, 33 g protein, 0 g carbohydrate, 13 g fat (4 g saturated), 103 mg cholesterol, 96 mg sodium, 0 g fiber.
Wine pairing: Roast chicken is one of the most accommodating dishes in wine pairing - flexible enough to pair with a wide range from aromatic whites to oakier Chardonnay to light reds.Greens With Ginger & Chile
Serves 4
This recipe, adapted from "In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart," by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, 2010), can be made with any type of greens. Tender greens such as spinach, watercress and pea shoots cook in just a few minutes, uncovered. Sturdier greens (chard, kale, broccoli rabe, collards, cabbage, amaranth, beet greens, turnip tops) take longer. They are best cut into ribbons and covered to steam during cooking.
* 1 to 1 1/2 pounds amaranth or other leafy greens * 4 coin-size slices peeled fresh ginger * 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil * -- Kosher salt, to taste * 1 fresh red or green chile, or 1 dried red chile (for flavor, not heat)
Instructions: Sort the greens, removing any tough stems, and wash and drain the leaves. Cut the ginger slices into a fine julienne, or chop them, or simply leave them as round slices. Cover the bottom of a wok or generous skillet with a layer of oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Add some salt to the oil, then add the ginger and the chile pod. If it is a fresh chile, make a slit in it to prevent it from bursting in the heat.
When the ginger begins to sizzle, stir it around and add the greens. Use tongs to toss the greens to distribute the oil and flavorings and to keep the greens moving and cooking evenly. Very tender greens will wilt and cook in 1 to 2 minutes. For sturdier greens, reduce the heat and cover the pan for a few minutes to let them steam and wilt. Remove chile and ginger; discard or, if desired, chop them fine and add to the greens.
Serve greens hot, warm or at room temperature.
Per serving: 64 calories, 3 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, 4 g fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 24 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.
E-mail Stacy Finz at sfinz@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page K - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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