We Are What We Eat

April 15, 2021
The redoubtable Waters (The Art of Simple Food) returns with a paean to the slow food movement, a passionate advocacy for the best flavors that food can provide. Waters lambastes the "fast food" culture ubiquitous in America and increasingly so in the larger world. She finds it seriously wanting in its emphasis on uniformity and cheapness, traits adapted from industrial manufacturing's reliance on mass production and interchangeability. Its most egregious faults come from its emphasis on speed and instant gratification: hurry up and eat and move on to the next event--no savoring, no appreciation of the present moment. And industrial food relies on the subtle yet irresistible psychological manipulations of mass consumer advertising. Waters demands instead perfection of flavors, relying for satisfaction on fruits and vegetables appreciated in nature's rhythms of the passing seasons; foods gently, mindfully raised by farmers dedicated to sustainable agricultural practices. Waters is scarcely the first to advocate for such an approach to food, but her prominence in contemporary American cuisine adds heft to her enthusiasms.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Waters is a food-world legend, and this is an ideal title for discussion groups, sure to provoke passionate thoughts and feelings.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 26, 2021
Waters (Coming to My Senses), legendary chef and founder of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, delivers an impassioned manifesto on how food and its quality impacts society and the planet. The back-to-the-land advocate outlines the threat that fast food culture poses on farmers, agriculture, and consumers’ health, and argues that pivoting to local, sustainable food can negate it. If it’s not confronted, she writes, “our well-intentioned work to solve the problems of our world will ultimately fall short.” Waters refers to the source of these problems as “fast food values,” among them that everything should be available all the time, more is better, speed is paramount, and that choices are free of consequences. She offers cogent, well-reasoned analyses of the price of convenience, blind trust in advertising, and cheapness, all of which seduce “us into losing our desire, confidence, and ability to do things for ourselves.” As an alternative, she underscores the virtues of slow food culture, highlighting biodiversity, environmental stewardship, and collective accountability. Along the way, she shares details of her Edible Schoolyard Project—which teaches children critical thinking around food—and shows how others, such as Slow Food International’s Carlo Petrini, are putting in the work. Highly convincing and incredibly inspiring, Water’s fervent entreaty is sure to open eyes and change minds.

June 1, 2021

In this ode to slow food, chef Waters (Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA) considers fast food and slow food cultures. She examines convenience, availability, cost, and speed in fast food, juxtaposed with biodiversity, seasonality, and simplicity in slow food. She sets out her concept of "fast food values," by which she means demand for uniform, constantly available food, in the U.S. and other countries; she argues that these values deplete the land and spur hyperconsumerism. Waters shares stories from her years as a chef and restaurateur to draw attention to the subject and propose solutions. VERDICT Waters has important ideas about nature, respecting the land, eating seasonally, and appreciating traditional and/or organic agriculture, but readers may find her overall message a bit insensitive, when quality food and green space are luxuries inaccessible to many. Recommended for fans of Waters's works in general, and those interested in food culture narratives and sustainability.--Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib., Miami

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.