organic matters Edible Schoolyard


Alice Waters Right there, in the middle of


every school day, lies time and energy already devoted to the feeding of children. We have the power to turn that daily school lunch from an afterthought into a joyous education, a way of caring for our health, our environment


and our community. Alice Waters


Alice Waters has been inspiring one of the important changes for our children at school ~ their connection to fresh food from the garden to the table.


After college and a degree in French Cultural Studies Alice moved to England where she spent time training at the International Montessori School in London. It was there that she learned lovely ideas about “nourishing the whole child and encouraging children to learn by doing things with their own bod- ies and hands, by touching and tasting and smelling in an ongo- ing education of the senses.”


8 Organic Shopper Fall 2010


After returning to America and working at the Berkeley Montes- sori School, Alice took a trip to Paris where she fell in love with French cuisine and its strong connection to family life, the agricultural community and to the seasons. She began planting the idea to open her own restaurant where her “friends could come for tasty food and talk about politics ~ such as the right way to bring up children and how to share this small planet.”


Alice opened her Chez Panisse Restaurant in 1972. She spent time searching for delicious ingredients from local organic farmers. And it was on another trip from her home to her res- taurant in Berkeley that planted another seed of an idea that would become one of the most important things in Alice’s life ~ The Edible Schoolyard project.


Alice, working side by side with the principal, teachers, students and parents from Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, along with a British gardener and a cooked name Esther started the first Edible Schoolyard where children learn to plant seeds and grow their own food, harvest and cook the food they’ve grown, and study about science, ecology and chemistry through gardening and cooking.


In her book, Edible Schoolyard, A Universal Idea, Alice shares this delightfully inspiring story of the first Edible Schoolyard and how it has grown and be- came a model for other school gardens around the country.


edibleschoolyard.org chezpanisse.com


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