Deep Thoughts on Alice Waters and Slow Food

Hi readers,

I was just listening to the latest ‘How I Built This with Guy Raz‘ and I had some deep thoughts on Alice Waters and the slow food movement. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s an interview-based format where Guy asks various successful entrepreneurs how they got their ideas and started their businesses. It’s always super interesting, with guests from Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler (Soul Cycle) to Haim Saban (Power Rangers). This week he interviewed Alive Waters (founder of Chez Panisse and by virtually all accounts, founder of the ‘Slow Food’ movement in the United States).

They went through all the normal, interview-y stuff, then Guy was asking about some of the criticism that Alice has received around the concept of ‘Slow Food’ being unaffordable. She said some really nice, eloquent stuff that basically boiled down to one idea:

For slow food to work, we have to know how to cook.

This sentiment was especially interesting for me. I am not necessarily someone who ‘knows how to cook’. I try to eat relatively healthy, organic-ish food, but if the food happens to be in the form of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich four times a week, I’m cool with that. I see eating as a means to an end (where the end is being full and well-nourished) instead of part of some over-arching culinary journey through life.

But I’ve been thinking lately that I ought to step up my cooking game a little. There are a few reasons for this:

1. I’m obsessed with developing new hobbies (see related post here)
2. I have this deep-seated, cultural belief that I should have some nice-tasting meals I’m good at making. It comes in handy and it smacks of ‘competent adulthood’.
3. I find it deeply interesting to spend time in food markets (especially in Spain, where I am right now).
4. I think it would be a nice thing to do with my boyfriend (who, disclaimer, is actually very good at cooking).
5. Maybe I’m overlooking something with the over-arching culinary journey through life, you know? Don’t want to miss out.

In the past, I’ve ebbed and flowed with my cooking. I always expect it to be ‘fun’, and then lose interest after a few days when I can’t think of what I want to do next with my weird, overzealous groceries (just because you buy all the ingredients for crispy kung pao cauliflower does not mean it is going to get made). But after listening to this interview, I think it’s more important to focus on other aspects of what it means to cook.

It’s interesting that we live in a society where cooking is viewed as a choice. After listening to Alice Water’s talk about her experiences with the food world, the choice does not seem like it is just about what to eat for dinner. The choice is about active participation in the systems that you find important and worth maintaining in the world.

Picture of the wares at the Mercado de Cebada in Madrid below.