Alice Waters' Crusade For Better Food

The garden is just half of the program. The kids also learn how to cook what they've grown. For many of the kids it's the first time they've cooked and eaten fresh, organic food.

"Did you ever cook anything that you thought before, oh my god, I'd never eat anything…like that in a million [years]?" Stahl asked the children.

"Oh yeah. This one thing with toast and then there's spinach and mushrooms on top of it. I thought I would hate it but it was really good," one student told Stahl.

If Waters had her way, there'd be a program like this in every single school.

"We have schools across the country that are cutting gym, where they can't afford books for the kids. Do you think it's possible that what you're doing or what you're trying to do can really be spread all across the country in these times?" Stahl asked.

"In these times it needs to be spread more than ever," Waters argued. "That children would grow up knowing how to cook. This is something that we don't know how to do anymore."

"But can we afford it? I guess that's what I'm asking," Stahl said.

"But we can't not afford it," Waters argued.

She did agree with the notion that she's a dreamer.

But to others she's a visionary. Now she has her sights on a new project and we would like to warn President Obama that the steamroller is on its way.

"You have been pushing for a vegetable garden at the White House for years. Rose garden? Forget that. You want a broccoli garden?" Stahl asked.

"I have been talking nonstop about the symbolism of an edible landscape at the White House. I think it says everything about stewardship of the land and about the nourishment of a nation," Waters said.

Asked if she thinks she'll achieve such a garden at the White House, Waters told Stahl, "Well, I'm very hopeful. I've always liked the idea of doing press conferences at the compost heap."

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Five days after this story first aired, Michelle Obama broke ground for a garden on the South Lawn of the White House. It's 1,100 square feet, with organic herbs, fruits and vegetables.


Produced by Ruth Streeter

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[Athrunxala]

I've changed my entire lifestyle around so that I can live a safe natural life. A life without worry of what I put in or on my body, I've taken the chemically treated food out of my life and I've also switched over to all natural products in my home. I've changed everything over, from natural floor cleaners to <a href="http://www.lavanila.com/Healthy-Deodorant_c_16.html">natural deodorant</a>. I've done everything I can to make my home safer for my whole family.

[msharemail]

Here's a new book from Alice. http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2010/05/learn-how-to-cook-in-the-green-kitchen/

[unlvdating]

I really appreciate your efforts to write articles that are informative in nature and undertake different issues and happenings in our society. These posts keep me updated with these matters that make me aware on the current situations in our society. Thanks for your dedication on providing relevant articles. I acknowledgment your great work!

http://www.hydroponicswholesale.com

[zenmonkman]

Ah yes, the aristocratic flare of frying an egg in your personal hearth poured over freshly cut tomatoes, lettuce and olive oil ... yes, let the little people eat cake because expensive, small portioned food with little relevance to today's economic perspective is soooooo relevant ... Lesley you got this one wrong.

[bestwishesmarie]

she is an interesting woman, who has done much good, often with no thought of profit (in general). and i think it is great that she has held to her ideals and some compensation (financial) is starting to come.

[Diniz1980]

The thing is that fresh natural food should be considered standard/ normal for and the distinction should be made to identify the industrial GM hodgepodge for what it is, fake food. Better to cut back on super soft toilet paper and preety much everything else than to settle for that deadly rubbish, besides if you plant your own garden it is even better and costs a lot less than the industrial sludge.

[Diniz1980]

The thing is that fresh natural food should be considered standard/ normal for and the distinction should be made to identify the industrial GM hodgepodge for what it is, fake food. Better to cut back on super soft toilet paper and preety much everything else than to settle for that deadly rubbish.

[mjinaz]

Organic food is SO POTENT, and valuable (price included) that you tend to use it wisely, making up the difference by cutting back on other things you spend your money on. (My favorite analogy is the choice to eat a spinach salad instead of using iceburg lettuce. That's more POTENT).

You use less of it, in a way. There is a tendency to cut back on meat and eat a lot more produce. DO YOU KNOW THAT ORGANIC MEAT AND POULTRY IS ALWAYS "FREE RANGE" TOO. If you choose to eat meat and poultry, ORGANIC is more humane than the horrific mistreatment of many farm animals, including DAIRY COWS. Organic dairy products, poultry and meat is starting to appear in the regular grocery chains, and those prices are coming down.

Also, CUT BACK ON EATING OUT. If I'm out and about in my neighborhood, I drive home to fix something to eat and go back out. If I had to, I'd take my food to work, or find healthy options near where I would work.

The quality and flavor is amazing, AND you will
SAVE ON MEDICAL BILLS because of MUCH BETTER HEALTH, and not so easly become DISEASED.

It amazes me to watch many people waste their money, or splurg on so many other things, and then, some are, so extremely cheap about groceries.

If we, the public, would make those healthy choices and reject the junk food, the prices would come down.

And come on, about Alice Water's egg cooking over her firepit, that was HER kitchen. I hardly expected that she and Leslie Stahl were suggesting that everyone should get a firepit, and obviously most of us do not have a place to grow our own.

This was a beautiful story, and inspiring for people to open their minds to CHANGE for the better. Change takes a transition, and, although the story didn't go into it in much detail, apparently, Ms. Waters has been an advocate for this, regardless of whether you've heard of her, or not. Thank you to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's (ECONOMICAL PRICING), and even our regular grocery chains, who have positively affected this change. Find the health food stores with the BARGAINS. They're out there.

Keep making the HEALTHY CHOICES, and THE PRICES WILL COME DOWN as well as your medical expenses, from care to prescriptions.

I'm tired of overly analytical stories comparing healthy foods vs. junk food, and thought it was great to focus on the POSITIVE expose' of the inspiring Alice Waters.

Next, I'd like to see tobacco farming transition to more herbals for economical fresh spices, and for herbal health supplements, more natural toiletries, etc.

IT'S AN EASIER TRANSITION THAN YOU THINK WHEN YOU CARE TO SWITCH YOUR PRIORITIES IN YOUR SPENDING (on other things).

[FLangheinrich]

Alice Waters is clearly a "let them eat cake" kind of a person. I have a six figure income but won't pay $4 a pound for pathetic little grapes like she was helping to sell. I have been to her exceptional restaurant but it is clearly not the food for the masses she says she wants to feed us. She is really arguing that we should let millions die so that we can all grow less food in a way acceptable to her. Also, how much hydrocarbon volume did she send into the air to cook those two eggs? Finally, it's nice that the White House will have an organic garden, but bet that the peasants will be doing most of the work.

[jmitchpen1013]

Unfortunately you are pretty much dead on with this evaluation of Alice Waters impact on food and nutrition. It all sounds good but if you really take a long look at the changes that she so eloquently expounds upon, they are way more idealistic than rational.
I agree that we need to take a long hard look at the food that we are being presented with by huge corporate farms and processors but Alice has got to realize that the money that she wants to pour into these organic programs, especially to school lunch programs could be better spent on other aspects of schools that are falling apart, both from a structural and educational standpoint.

[organic4all]

Apparently alot of people didn't understand this story. Unless we all get on the same page as a nation and demand organic foods we will never have a mass opportunity to eat organically. What this nation is doing to our food supply is appalling. Instead of dumping on Alice Waters do a little research online. Find out the meaning of GMO foods, find out what happens when cows are given antibiotics and hormones. This type of behavior is putting farms out of business. American food has turned into big business. When I was growing up I don't remember food ever getting recalled. People dying from eating beef, peanut butter or spinach. Please research online and educate yourself before throwing stones at Alice Waters. By the way, I'm a conservative woman with these opinions, just in case anyone is judging.