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| The kitchen in my self-renovated apartment during my undergrad days. I didn't quite realize at the time the magnitude of the wall art bought for a yard sale song. |
I thought it appropriate, therefore, to pay homage to that bad-ass foodie rebel and artist, Alice Waters. Her inspired creation, Chez Panisse, is celebrating 40 years of ground-breaking food vision this weekend. For everyone in the U.S. (myself included) who enjoys the bounty of local farmers' markets, has at least a passing understanding of the concept of buying local, in-season produce, meat and fish, and who celebrates the harvest bounty each year, we really have Alice to thank.
What I didn't realize until I listened to Alice explain it herself, is the ground-breaking way she treats her employees at Chez Panisse. I suppose it should have come as no surprise that her treatment of the humans with which she comes into contact would be as humane, as well ... as just so darn right as her approach to food.
Thanks Alice, for taking a vision, a stove, and the local farmers you nurtured, and giving everyone (including The White House) inspiration to do better when it comes to the food we eat and the people who produce it.
Now that's a bad-ass feminist by anyone's definition.
My initial thought on the first article is that it was a poor attempt at humor. I'm enjoying reading the comments now. It's quite interesting how so many people have taken the article as offensive.
ReplyDeleteI do think that corporate/city-folk tend to think of country-folk as unmotivated dolts. Of course I'm generalizing.
It's also interesting that gardening, baking and knitting are considered feminine tasks, but farming, chef-ing and tailoring are masculine tasks.
@Kathryn Ray: It was definitely a poor attempt - I must admit I did not hear the tongue planted in the side of her cheek, but maybe I missed it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do agree with you concerning the city/country folk dichotomy, but I never saw it in terms of a motivation question, but more in limited worldview on the part of country folk as viewed by city types (and that's also me painting with a broad brush!).