For those who don’t know, Alice Waters is a national culinary treasure. Her NWS appearance is the culminating event of the debut week, Local Harvest Restaurant Series, which will run Sept. 18-24 (more information is available through Tricia Phelps, Taste the Local Difference 847-809-7643).

The proto-foodie earned her chops as an early champion of food sustainability, opening the legendary Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California in 1971 at just 27 years old. Since its inception, the restaurant has boasted locally sourced, seasonal, and organic ingredients as well as an impressive clientele; among its ranks, the Dalai Lama.

In 1996 Waters planted the seeds (yes, literally) of what would become the Edible Schoolyard Project. A free lunch and food education initiative, what started with a single garden and teaching kitchen today services sixteen school districts and provides 10,000 meals per day.

A bestselling author to boot, Waters’ latest publication, Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook takes readers through the tumult of the 1960s and into the formative years that led Waters to the front of the culinary vanguard. Kirkus Review described the memoir as a peek into “an almost charmed restaurant life that exhales the sweet aromas of honesty and self-awareness.”

Waters has received numerous accolades, including Harvard Medical School’s Global Environmental Citizen Award. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and inductee of the French Legion of Honor. In 2015, President Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal.

It’s no small luxury to have such an influential figure indulge us with savory tidbits on her activism and inspirations—a discussion certain to leave us craving more.

<>

<>

Visit National Writers Series Website >>>>

<>

National Writers Series On Facebook

Below are the latest postings from the National Writers Series Page On Facebook.

<>

<>

Visit National Writers Series On Facebook >>>

<>

Visit National Writers Series Website >>>>

<>