Last night "60 Minutes" profiled Alice Waters, founder of the venerable Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley and pioneer of the fresh, local foods movement. It was an interesting piece, offering insight into why she's been so influential and also why many folks take issue with her.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for the work that Waters has done and the influence she's had. I'm not sure my own work would have been possible if she hadn't blazed her particular trail. But I bristled at the statement that she shudders at the thought of frozen food, as well as her much criticized contention that even poor people would be able to afford good food if they passed on that second pair of Nikes or that expensive cell phone.
I certainly want more people to eat more fresh, local, organic food, but I doubt it's going to happen any time soon on the scale that Waters envisions. In the meantime, we can go a long way towards improving the situation if we moved away from the all-or-nothing thinking that's most likely to capture media attention, and the snobbery that makes someone shudder at the idea of frozen food. There's plenty of middle ground, and change is most likely to come about on a piecemeal basis. Small changes can go a long way, and frozen vegetables are still a lot better than those that come in cans.
2 comments:
I LOVE alice waters but some of her comments make me cringe too. she could use a small lesson in tolerance.
When I heard her speak last weekend at the Green Festival I was struck by the thought that an all-or-nothing position makes much better press than a viewpoint that incorporates more shades of gray. I cringe at some of her comments, but I suspect that her evangelical tone is an important part of what's made her so influential.
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