Alice Waters, Calvin Trillin & Ruth Reichl: The Art of Simple Food October 30, 2007

Chef and founder of Berkeley's iconic Chez Panisse Alice Waters has influenced a generation of diners, cooks, and restaurateurs with her passion for natural foods organically grown and simply prepared. Since its founding in 1971, Chez Panisse has inspired many enthusiastic eaters to the seasonal pleasures of the table. Alice Waters has more than good eating and unadorned ingredients in mind, however; her culinary ventures seek social and environmental change. Waters furthers her vision through several books and community-based projects, notably the Edible Schoolyard Project at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. Her most recent book is The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution.

Calvin Trillin is a journalist, humorist, and food writer who ferrets out unusual stories from out-of-the-way locales and sources closer to home. An astute and acclaimed observer of contemporary life, Trillin is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times Opinion pages, as well as the "deadline poet" for The Nation. An essayist and intimate columnist, Trillin is the author of more than twenty books, ranging from the ironic poetry collection A Heckuva Job to musings on food in The Tummy Trilogy. Trillin's personal narratives include Remembering Denny, Messages From My Father, and About Alice.

A leading voice of the culinary movement for decades, Ruth Reichl has been the editor of Gourmet magazine since 1999. She was formerly the food critic for The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. A precise knowledge of a broad repertoire of cuisines enhances both Reichl's command as restaurant critic and as an author of cookbooks and bestselling memoirs. The Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Reichl, contains more than 1,000 simple and exceptional recipes from six decades of Gourmet magazine. In her memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl presents her life story as it relates to her passion for food and the dining experience.

Presented by City Arts & Lectures: Social Studies series

Official Website: http://cityarts.net/n.waters.trillin.reichl.html