WEBVTT - Alice Waters 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.160 This episode is brought to you by Me and M, 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.920 the British modern luxury clothing label designed for busy women. 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.280 Founded and designed in London. Me and M is about 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.960 intelligence style. Much thought and care are put into the 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:16.640 design process, so every piece is flattering, functional and made 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.520 to last forever. Me and M is well known for 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.000 its trousers and how I got to know the brand. 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.079 It's my go to for styles that are comfortable enough 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.480 to wear in the kitchen or the restaurant, also polished 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:32.000 enough for meetings. Me and M is available online and 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.720 its stores across London, Edinburgh, New York. If you're in London, 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.000 I'd really recommend heading to their beautiful, brand new flagship 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.440 store in Marlevin, which opens on the twenty ninth of October. 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.440 When Rose and I opened The River Cafe in nineteen 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.520 eighty seven, we were credited for bringing open kitchens, farm 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.120 sourced ingredients and women chefs to restaurants. As happy as 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.360 we were to receive this credit, we would always say 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:03.240 Alice Waters did it first. Not only has she created 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.480 Chapennese taught us how to cook through her six cookbooks, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.080 Alice has showed us all how food can bring communities together. 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:17.000 As a food activist, her foundation, the Edible school Yard, 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.160 has taught children how vegetables grow and the joy of 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.760 creating a garden, whether in a disadvantaged urban area or 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.360 on the lawn behind the White House. Even though we're 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:34.479 probably what seven thousand miles apart, I feel deeply connected 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:39.360 and close to you. Alice, oh so touched when Rose 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.160 and I opened. I have the menu from the very 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.000 first day we opened the River Cafe, and on the 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.440 dessert menu was Alice Walters lemon tart and it's been 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.200 on the menu every day since then. And I was 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.800 wondering whether you would like to talk about lemons and 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:56.640 your lemon tart. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.840 I would love to talk about lemons. I just picked 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:04.640 from my backyard this morning. Oh they smell so good. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:10.760 And it reminded me that the first really successful dessert 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:16.840 at Chipennes was a Meyer lemon ice cream and sherbert 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:22.200 that we put inside a lemon cup, and people were 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.000 so surprised by the taste. 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:27.280 Tell me about Meyer lemons. 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:34.440 There are fradle that it's sweet and I can't describe flavor. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.160 It's sort of ethereal to me, but it's not sharp. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:47.480 It's very floral. Lindsay Shearer's family lived up north on 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.440 a farm, and she had meyer lemons there as well, 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.200 and that sort of was the beginning of our connection 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.960 directly with the farmers. 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.960 She was her pastry chef. She was the dessert chef 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:02.920 for Shapanese. 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.000 She was, but she was also a partner in the 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:08.760 owner and still is. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.919 I planted a myra lemon tree in my backyard and 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.760 I was holding up those lemons and remembering the lemon 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:24.639 tart we made, and I have to say that it 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.799 is one of my favorite desserts. Lemon merang pie as 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.119 a child was always one of my favorite desserts. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:34.760 Did your mother make it for you? 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.800 She actually did for my birthday. That was one of 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.200 the only things she knew how to. 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.280 Make, to make a lemon meraing pie every year for 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:47.520 your birthday. Yes. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.960 I grew up in the late forties in. 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:55.760 New Jersey, where it was very cold, very hot in summer, 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:02.200 but I certainly fell in love the vegetables and fruits 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.920 of my parents' victory garden. My parents kept it their 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:12.080 whole life. They planted during the war, both as a 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.560 way to help to send food to the soldiers in Europe, 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.479 and the Roosevelt had asked everybody to do that, but 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.159 they did it for financial reasons because we were a 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:32.400 family of six, and so my parents planted tomatoes and 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:38.039 canned the tomatoes for the winter, and always had squashes 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:44.920 that were in the basement. And that seasonality of food 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.840 I think was deep inside me. I loved corn and 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.360 tomatoes in the summer more than anything. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.839 When is the season for lemons in San Francisco? When 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:58.760 do you have them? 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.480 Well, right now, they're just beginning to ripen, and I 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.560 was just going to cut these open that I picked. 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:07.160 In my backyard. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:13.080 But it's a longer season of course in California, and 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:19.600 different ferraldos have a longer life. But we're lucky that way. 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:26.080 Alice, I'd love to hear your story of starting Chapanese, 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.200 and I know that it was a most part of 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.640 your activism as a president in the early sixties when 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.080 the United States was in the tumult of the free 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.960 speech movement of the Vietnam War and you were at Berkeley. 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:46.000 Tell me what really inspired you to start a restaurant. 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:51.240 Well, it began really in that free speech movement with 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:56.479 the leadership of Mario Savia and he said said to 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:02.799 all of us, you need to visit other cultures, understand 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:07.000 the way people think around the world. And he said, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.920 if you can, you should take off your junior year 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.360 and go to some other country. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:14.360 So I did. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.520 I went to France in nineteen sixty five, and it 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.360 really did change my life, not just because of the 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:30.200 food that was so extraordinary, but because of the beauty 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.960 of the culture of France. I fell in love with 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.520 Notre Dame, sitting by the sind drinking a glass of wine. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:48.840 I walked everywhere. I loved the farmer's markets, and I 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.400 came back home and I just said, I want to 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:57.480 live like the French. And I had friends who felt 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:02.960 the same way. In our night even day, we thought, well, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.120 maybe if we open a little French restaurant, the food 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:06.719 will come. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.760 And it did. I sure did. Did you have chefs 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.800 who knew how to do a meal for people who 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.200 came in at seven, some people came in at nine, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.960 Some people wanted fish, some people wanted how did you 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:23.280 did you know how to. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:28.400 Welc had one meant. I wanted it to be like 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.240 the little restaurants. 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.080 In Paris, where you ate things that you may not 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.840 have ever had before that we could curate according to 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:44.280 the season and what we loved to cook well, strangely 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:50.040 and over time, and because it was very affordable, people 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:55.840 liked it a lot, and they came because it was 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.800 in an old house, and they came and they felt 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:05.160 like they were eating at home. And that is a 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:11.880 really part of I think my monatssory training, which. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:16.360 Said that you need to appeal. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:20.320 To all of your senses because they are our pathways 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.960 into our minds. And so I wanted the restaurant to 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.559 smell good. I used to burn rosemary out in front 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.560 of the restaurant so it smelled like the south of France. 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:36.440 And I knew that a fireplace in the kitchen would 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.959 given aroma. I knew that candles on the table would 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:46.400 be beautiful. But it was taste I was looking for 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.360 when I got back from France. I wanted to eat 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:55.560 and live like the French, and I didn't find taste 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.199 until I found the farmers. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.319 Say you wanted to eat like the French age and 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.160 shopped like the French shop. Can you tell me about 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:05.880 what that meant? 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:12.360 Well, it meant that you only ate food and season 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.360 and only local food. You know. I fell in love 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.120 with those wild strawberries and the hall, and all of 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.160 a sudden they were gone, and they said, oh, you 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.960 have to go up in the woods and pick them. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:34.280 And I just didn't believe that people spent their time 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.000 doing that and bringing them down from the woods and 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.679 selling them to the restaurant tours. 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:46.959 And of course in the end that's what we did. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.280 We really bought the food directly. 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:55.280 And when we started doing that at Chippene's, everybody in 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.640 the state wanted to sell to us because we left 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:04.160 out the middleman. And that's what's so critical, because the 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:10.480 farmers need real costs, and our farmer would want all 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.840 of our composts to food and take it back to 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.160 the farm and wet up the vegetables. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:21.719 And how was the kind of rigor of a restaurant. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:26.239 How was the finances and the ordering and the margins 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.240 and everything? Did that matter or did it not matter? 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:31.480 Well? I was never out. 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.920 None of us was out to make money. I mean, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:41.920 my parents mortgaged their house so that I could buy 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.960 the building that we were in. And it was back 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:53.320 in those days it coused practically nothing that subsidized the 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:59.400 beginning of restaurant, No question about that, but it really 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.200 began us with a group of us and some of 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.680 us knew how to do pastries and some of us 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.800 knew how to make soup, and it was very collaborative 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:16.160 in that way. And then we got some more experienced 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:21.480 people in the kitchen and things changed. But it's always 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.960 been kind of an extended family. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.520 Yeah, and you've had such great chefs that have worked 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.080 for you and then have gone on to do like 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.720 the River Cafe. You know, one of the great the 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.240 expressions that I often use is if you love them, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.720 let them go. And you certainly loved them, and you 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.280 have have let them go. And I think also what 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.320 you've done is you've created not only a place where 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.920 the values were on the food, but it was also 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.080 quite revolutionary in the way that you created a place 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.199 where people could work and also have a life. Whereas 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.760 it used to be that to work in a restaurant 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.640 you have to suffer early hours, you had to suffer 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.880 late nights, you had to suffer bullying in the kitchen, 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.000 you had to suffer no days off. You must take 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.320 the credit for having changed the culture of restaurants. 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:18.240 Well, I did something very important. As I look back 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.559 over the fifty three years. Probably the most important decision 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:28.600 I made was when I had a child and I 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.320 realized that I could not cook six days a week, 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:37.920 and I decided that we would divide the job in 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.600 two and there I would work three days, but I 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:47.960 would be paid for six. Someone else would do likewise, 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.680 And it works so beautifully that I did it for 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.959 the cafe upstairs, and I did it for the pastry. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:03.320 So instead of having one chef in each department, you 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:09.479 had two. And it meant that there were many points 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:14.120 of view, and so young people who came to learn 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:22.079 in the kitchen would experience that sort of collaborative thinking 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:28.960 and made life for the people who were leading the 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:34.000 kitchen civilized, and they could be with their families, they 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:38.120 could go out to other restaurants, and it really did 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.840 change ship Ane. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.600 I just want to point out everyone listening this to 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.760 this thought, what a really radical and almost revolutionary way 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.000 that Alice transformed the culture of restaurants. There's still a 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.480 long way to go, and there still is a matcho. 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.160 I just had a chef who came and did a 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:01.720 month with you in Berkeley as Japanese, and she came 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:07.640 back so excited and so impressed by the culture of 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:16.000 your restaurant. The River Cafe Cafe are all day space 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.400 and just steps away from the restaurant. Is now open 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:24.080 in the morning an Italian breakfast with cornetti, chiambella and 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.960 crostada from our pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, ice creamed 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:34.400 coops and River Cafe classic desserts. We have sharing plates Salumi, Misti, mozzarella, briusquetta, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.080 red and yellow peppers, Vitello tonado and more. Come in 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.280 the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar. 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:52.520 No need to book. See you here. Tell me about 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.880 what it was like raising a child as both a 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.120 chef and an entrepreneur and someone who wrote coop with 0:14:59.160 --> 0:14:59.800 how did you? 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:01.120 And I. 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:10.640 Always wanted her to taste the ingredients, and I had 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.920 a garden out back of my house and I planted 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:20.600 things that were very aromatic and little wild strawberries and 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.960 things she could pick. But I was very intent on 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:32.000 making her school lunches something that she loved, and it 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.840 turned out that shared them with her friends. They all 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:43.359 loved the lunch that she took. But she really became 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:51.880 a connoisseur. She loved to eat and then she became 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:58.880 really engaged in food as part of her her work 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:04.800 as an artist, and it's doing a website now for 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.720 new mothers to learn how to cook for their kids. 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:14.520 I think we're both concerned with, certainly with children and 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.080 their nutrition and the way you know, what schools, How 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.200 schools can just give children who may not be even 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.160 able to have dinner that going to school might give 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.320 them their one meal a day, and how we can 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:33.080 provide what is in San Francisco, do children get free meals? 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.320 What do you have to do to qualify for it? 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:42.680 I mean theoretically yes, but in fact the meals in 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:48.240 every school in the country is really the reimbursement comes 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:53.120 to the schools federally, and they could be serving them 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:58.720 packaged fast food. And it takes a really determined school 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:04.879 district to make change. And that's why we need to 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:10.679 do this in an international way where we can understand 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:15.560 that we can buy foods that are affordable, that are 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.280 delicious and nutritious. That's one of my new cookbooks about 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.040 the school lunch revolution. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.199 Tell me about the new cookbook I'd like to know 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:25.680 about it. 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.960 Well, it's about school lunches. 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:34.560 It's food that kids like I mean things like hummus 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:38.199 and peter bread, and who knew that they went like 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:44.879 wilted greens and all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.800 they just haven't been exposed to them. But the Edical 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:55.199 school Yard project was a model that shared human values. 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.439 Have a garden and a school and a kitchen to 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:06.480 teach all the academic subjects in that monassory way, learning 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:11.760 by doing in a kitchen and garden classroom. It's amazing 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.160 what they learn and how happy they are to be 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.280 in those classrooms. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.840 Can you tell me and tell everyone who's listening about 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:23.919 edible Schoolyard. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:30.600 Well, thirty years ago the principal of school in Berkeley 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.680 called me up and asked me whether I could help 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:40.000 him beautify his school. And I went over to the 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.680 school and it was a middle school. It had eight 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:50.280 hundred students that came from They spoke twenty two different 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:56.960 languages in their homes, and I was very intimidated when 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:02.159 I saw this big, huge piece of land, and from 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:07.480 really the very first planting of that vacant lot, parents 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.280 wanted to help, kids wanted to help. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.040 After school. It was amazing how. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:21.080 Quickly it changed the whole nature of the school. You 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.639 could make a kitchen classroom, and you could make a 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:30.280 garden classroom, not for teaching cooking or gardening, but for 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:36.159 teaching the academic subjects. You could teach geography in the 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:42.160 kitchen classroom. And its success and our teaching every year 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:49.080 we do a training has created this amazing network which 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.800 I'm going to share it's map because you won't believe. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:59.600 Wow, lazy, I'm looking at a map. I just tell us, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.639 looking at a map, describe what you're showing me. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:07.000 A network of edible school of your arts that goes 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:12.680 to practically every country around the world, over sixty five 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:21.359 hundred schools in all different climates and cultures. But I 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:26.879 have to say that it has been the reason that 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:34.560 I am so sure that schools supported agriculture can change 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:35.080 the world. 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:40.359 I dare say, can if we get children when they're young, 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:45.080 if we teach them when they are you want to 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.479 learn and to be exposed. I think one of the 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.760 things that you and I probably as parents, have understood 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.879 the difference between well the importance of exposure. When we 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.040 take chefs who've worked for us, we take them to 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.120 Italy every year to see how olive oil is made. 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.280 And you realize you and I have done that with 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:09.000 our children from an early age. But so many people 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:13.200 have not understood how vegetables grow, how olive oil is made, 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:18.680 how cows are milked. It's really understanding what the culture 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:20.080 is of food. Do you agree? 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:25.680 I totally agree, But I agree that there's something deep 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:31.000 inside all of us that of course is connected to 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:37.120 nature and to food, and that coming back it's almost 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:44.080 like coming home. It's not something that's difficult for children 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:49.560 to embrace or even for adults to embrace. When they 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:55.920 are at a table and food is delicious, it's easy 0:21:56.119 --> 0:22:00.280 for them to want to go back there again and 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.879 for them to want to make change. 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:08.600 The other very well known garden that you were involved 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:12.040 with was a garden of the White House when President 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.040 Obama was there and you worked with Michelle. Can you 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:16.840 tell me about that experience. 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.800 Well, I've talked to her a lot about the Edible 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.600 School Yard project, and she loved the idea, and she 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:34.000 knew about Roosevelt's interests, his wife's interest in victory gardens 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:37.919 and buying food. He even had a garden on the 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:41.359 front lawn of the White House at one time. But 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:47.240 she found a farmer, Sam cass and I was so 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:51.679 surprised when she planted the garden behind the White House. 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.240 One of her first things she did. What did she 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:55.840 grow there? 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:56.920 Oh? 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.600 Everything? And he had to behive. It was amazing. 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:06.080 Are you optimistic about the future do you think that 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:08.600 this will go forward people knowing more. 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:15.639 I really am optimistic about the possibility of changing the 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:20.280 procurement of public schools around the world. I mean many 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:25.600 other countries and your country one of the most able 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:30.840 to do this because if your long history and gardening 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:39.040 and also belief in education. Unfortunately we don't have that 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:43.800 in the United States. And even though many many people 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:49.600 are involved with gardening around the country and selling to schools, 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:54.480 we need that leadership to show us that this is 0:23:54.640 --> 0:24:00.560 possible and absolutely essential for climate We can't be shipping 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:06.280 food around the world. It's the idea that comes from 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:11.000 the fast food and doctrination that we should have whatever 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:14.879 we want, whenever we want it. And you can't bring 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:19.560 an unripe avocado from Mexico and hope that it's going 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:23.240 to ripen by the time you get it to you know, 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:25.119 Denmark in December. 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:33.359 If you like listening to Ruthie's table for Would you 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:37.520 please make sure to rape and review the podcast on 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:43.080 the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, O, wherever you get your podcasts. 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:51.120 Thank you, Thanks to you, And really what you've done 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:54.720 is a much greater understanding of the restrictions and the 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:58.520 joy we have of different seasons that a vegetable or 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:01.879 fruit comes and then goes, and then another one comes 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:04.160 and then it goes. Don't you think you say hello 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:07.119 and then you say goodbye to a fruit or vegetable. 0:25:08.000 --> 0:25:12.399 It's a beautiful thing, actually to think of it that way, 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:15.240 Hello and goodbye, because you. 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:19.639 Don't want to be just eating food. 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:25.879 Isn't at that moment of ripeness when it has such 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:29.440 a distinct flavor. I mean, right now, we have passion 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:34.400 fruit all the trees around Berkeley and people are bringing 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:38.440 them over to shape and ease, and we're buying them 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:42.960 and we're making a passion fruit syrup. We've never done 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:44.040 that before. 0:25:44.440 --> 0:25:46.760 And it is delicious. 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:50.720 Yeah, right now we have we don't have passion fruit, 0:25:51.080 --> 0:25:55.639 but we have porcini mushrooms that were gathering, and we 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:59.480 have white truffles and we have now but the best, 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:03.000 guess the best thing we have is the olive oil. 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:06.760 I served some yesterday to some friends. I poured some 0:26:06.800 --> 0:26:09.199 oil out and I said, these olives were on the 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:10.880 trees three weeks ago. 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:18.160 Well, we discovered that we can make olive oil that's 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:22.160 as tasty as all of the olive oils I've always 0:26:22.200 --> 0:26:29.119 loved from Italy. So it's really interesting to know what 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:33.800 we can grow and to get those seeds. And we're 0:26:33.840 --> 0:26:38.960 going to really need it with climate change. What grow 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:44.679 when it's very rainy, very hot, And we need to 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:48.879 really collaborate internationally about that. 0:26:49.800 --> 0:26:52.639 Last year, there was rain in July, then there was 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:56.560 a hal there was heat, and the olive oil was 0:26:57.200 --> 0:27:01.280 really challenging to find enough oil because you know, we 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:03.320 use so much in the River Cafe. I think we 0:27:03.440 --> 0:27:07.800 use seven thousand bottles a year, you know, ten bottles 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:11.840 a day. How have you experienced climate change in San Francisco? 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:15.160 How has that affected what you're eating and growing? 0:27:15.800 --> 0:27:20.840 It's affected us all of course psychologically. And it's the 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:29.320 reason that I'm so focused on public education, supporting farmers 0:27:29.640 --> 0:27:34.960 directly like we do paying them the real costs, because 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:41.679 we need to have a solution or a way to 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:47.000 directly help the farmers during this time of climate change. 0:27:47.359 --> 0:27:50.879 We need to pull the carbon down and put it in 0:27:51.119 --> 0:27:55.240 the ground where it belongs. We could do that with 0:27:55.680 --> 0:28:00.880 the procurement of food in public schools. You're doing that 0:28:01.040 --> 0:28:07.919 with King Charles's Foundation Farm to School in England. But 0:28:08.119 --> 0:28:12.199 I think that restaurants could really help to lead the 0:28:12.240 --> 0:28:17.680 way to supporting and purchasing all food that it is 0:28:17.840 --> 0:28:20.920 locally grown, organically and reach oatively. 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:25.800 My last question to you, Alice, is if food is 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:29.760 what we feed our children, our grandchildren, what we feed 0:28:29.800 --> 0:28:33.320 people who come to our restaurants, it is also comfort. 0:28:33.480 --> 0:28:36.880 Food is a source of comfort, emotional comfort. Is there 0:28:36.920 --> 0:28:41.080 a food that you would particularly associate with comfort? 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:48.200 Well, for me, the great thing about food is esthetic 0:28:48.360 --> 0:28:53.120 connects you to the beauty of nature. And I go 0:28:53.880 --> 0:29:03.160 outside and just throw myself down on around smellthy herbs, 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:11.040 and I love rosemary. I love to fry rosemary and sage. 0:29:11.680 --> 0:29:16.680 I love to sprinkle it on just about anything. But 0:29:16.880 --> 0:29:24.920 it is aroma therapy and that is very powerful. 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:29.000 Thank you, Alice. I feel that we are separated by 0:29:29.560 --> 0:29:35.360 oceans and valleys and rivers, plains and cities, but I 0:29:35.400 --> 0:29:39.160 do feel that we are connected through so much our 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:42.160 love for food. Our love for people, we work with, 0:29:42.640 --> 0:29:47.520