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Alice Waters

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Restaurateur

The Resume

    (April 28, 1944- )
    Born in Chatham, New Jersey
    Co-founder and taster-in-chief of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California (1971)
    Founded the breakfast and lunch restaurant Cafe Fanny (1984)
    Wrote 'Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook' (1995), 'Chez Panisse Cooking' (2001), 'Slow Food' (2004), 'The Art of Simple Food' (2007) and 'In the Green Kitchen' (2010)
    Leader in the local, sustainable food movement

Why she might be annoying:

    She does not use a computer.
    A reviewer of one of her cookbooks observed, 'In parts of the book she veers past purity to madness.'
    She sent an open letter to Barack Obama offering to be part of a 'kitchen cabinet' to pick a White House chef committed to local and organic food.
    The existing White House chef, Cristeta Comerford, was already using organic and local foods.
    Anthony Bourdain said, 'Alice Waters annoys the living shit out of me.... I'm a little uncomfortable with legislating good eating habits.'
    She said she would like shark fin soup for her last meal, prompting Bourdain to observe, 'I don't think shark fins are local.'
    When she recanted her desire for the soup, she said, 'Not long ago I learned that every year tens of millions of sharks, their fins brutally sliced off, are thrown back into the ocean to die.' (Did she previously think the sharks shed them?)

Why she might not be annoying:

    In a less curmudgeonly mood, Bourdain said, 'I respect Alice Waters' enormous contribution to changing the way we eat and cook today. No one can take that away from her. No one should try.'
    Gourmet magazine named Chez Panisse the best restaurant in America (2001).
    California-style pizza was introduced at Chez Panisse (1980)
    Her proposals for overhauling the school lunch program have attracted attention due to the childhood obesity epidemic.
    She was awarded the French Legion of Honor (2009).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 23 Votes: 13.04% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 21 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 22 Votes: 81.82% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 15 Votes: 73.33% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 29 Votes: 62.07% Annoying