Nothing too revelatory, announcement-wise, came out of Alice Waters’s talk at Twitter HQ yesterday, but it seems that plan to have a party for 5,000 people at the Berkeley Greek Theater in August for the 40th birthday of Chez Panisse has been scrapped. (We suppose the logistics of transporting that many Frog Hollow peaches, unblemished, became overwhelming.) Instead, Chez Panisse alumni chefs will be cooking multiple celebratory dinners around the Bay Area, with further details TBA. Throughout the year starting this month, Chez Panisse Café is doing week-long tribute menus to culinary legends, including Julia Child, Elizabeth David, and Claudia Roden.
The main reason for Alice’s Twitter conference was the launch of her Eating for Education campaign, which is going to be a national push, in part via Twitter, to raise money for Edible Schoolyard(s).
Also, Alice said of current restaurant trends locally (sans examples), “I think something remarkable is happening in the Bay Area. It’s multiplying… I can’t even keep up [with all the new restaurants]… People are opening restaurants now not to make money, but to have a wonderful way of living their lives. That wasn’t always the case. It’s so healthy that it’s not corporations opening satellites.” And furthermore, of the protest-heavy 70s, she said, “I wish we had been Twittering — I mean Tweeting! — back then. We were trying to spread the word.” Yes, Alice, we agree the verb should have been “Twittering.”
Live at Alice Waters’ Twitter press conference [Scoop]
