The S.Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants.

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Alice Waters

Lifetime Achievement 2007, sponsored by Schweppes

Described variously as a visionary, a pioneer, 'the mother of American cooking' and 'the most important figure in the culinary history of North America', Alice Waters is certainly one of the most influential figures in American cooking of the last 50 years.

She was born in Chatham, New Jersey, in 1948 and studied French Culture at the University of California, Berkeley. It was on a field trip to Brittany that she gained the inspiration behind her pioneering exploits. Returning home from France, she recalls, "I wanted hot baguettes in the morning and apricot jam and cafe au lait in bowls, and I wanted a cafe to hang out in the afternoon, and I wanted civilized meals." And so, in 1971, she gathered a team around her and opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

Her principles were simple: fresh, local ingredients, used at the height of their season. Chez Panisse served a daily changing, fixed price menu, making the very most of California's wealth of agriculture and seafood. The idea seems commonplace today, but in 1971 it was revolutionary.

In 1980 Waters opened a café upstairs, with a wood-burning oven and an à la carte menu, and in 1984 she opened the nearby Café Fanny, named after her daughter, born the year before, which served breakfast and lunch. In 1996, the 25th anniversary of Chez Panisse, Waters launched the Chez Panisse Foundation, with the aim of changing America's dietary habits through hands-on education in schools.

Today Alice Waters remains a fervent campaigner for sustainable food, is an International Governor of Slow Food and a Visiting Dean at the French Culinary Institute, amongst other positions. She follows Paul Bocuse and the Roux brothers as the third Lifetime Achievement Award winner at The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants.

Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café,

1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709-1516, USA. ++1 510 548 5525
www.chezpanisse.com

Click here for full list of Lifetime Achievers