Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780307718280)

The New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed memoir from cultural icon and culinary standard bearer Alice Waters recalls the circuitous road and tumultuous times leading to the opening of what is arguably America's most influential restaurant.

When Alice Waters opened the doors of her "little French restaurant" in Berkeley, California in 1971 at the age of 27, no one ever anticipated the indelible mark it would leave on the culinary landscape--Alice least of all. Fueled in equal parts by naiveté and a relentless pursuit of beauty and pure flavor, she turned her passion project into an iconic institution that redefined American cuisine for generations of chefs and food lovers. In Coming to My Senses Alice retraces the events that led her to 1517 Shattuck Avenue and the tumultuous times that emboldened her to find her own voice as a cook when the prevailing food culture was embracing convenience and uniformity. Moving from a repressive suburban upbringing to Berkeley in 1964 at the height of the Free Speech Movement and campus unrest, she was drawn into a bohemian circle of charismatic figures whose views on design, politics, film, and food would ultimately inform the unique culture on which Chez Panisse was founded. Dotted with stories, recipes, photographs, and letters, Coming to My Senses is at once deeply personal and modestly understated, a quietly revealing look at one woman's evolution from a rebellious yet impressionable follower to a respected activist who effects social and political change on a global level through the common bond of food.

Author: Alice Waters
ISBN-10: 030771828X
ISBN-13: 9780307718280
Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers
Language: English
Published: 09/05/2017
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.80w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/15/2017 pg. 61
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2017
Publishers Weekly 07/17/2017
BookPage 09/01/2017
Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview 08/15/2017 pg. 34
Booklist 09/01/2017 pg. 24
Library Journal 10/01/2017 pg. 94