Coming to my Senses

Alice Waters opened the doors of Chez Panisse, the 'little French restaurant' in Berkeley, California, that has been at the leading edge of the American culinary revolution ever since. Fuelled in equal parts by naivete and a relentless pursuit of beauty and pure flavour, Alice transformed our relationship with food, fine dining and what it means to eat well. In Coming to My Senses, Alice reflects on the desultory road that brought her to 1517 Shattuck Avenue, culminating in the opening of that iconic establishment in 1971. Recalling for the first time in her own words the people, places, times and meals that have touched her life, she paints an indelible portrait of the young woman from suburban New Jersey whose formative sojourn in Europe ultimately led her to the epicentre of Northern California's burgeoning counterculture in the late 1960s. There, drawn into the throes of tumultuous political and personal events, she refined her personal aesthetic, never faltering in her pursuit of the exquisite, the exceptional, the right taste. Interspersed with reflections on the doors that have opened since Chez Panisse changed the trajectory of her life and American food culture, Coming to My Senses shows the quiet determination and reckless enthusiasm that inspire Alice's activism, advocacy and creativity. At once deeply personal and modestly understated, this coming-of-age story offers a never-before-seen look at the makings of a rebel who quietly redefined the way generations of chefs and food lovers think about food, one salad at a time.