Waters’s memoir combines anecdotes, letters, photos, and recipes to tell the remarkable story of how she opened Chez Panisse and helped launch the local organic food movement. Her path from a conventional suburban upbringing to being the proprietor of a revolutionary culinary landmark was anything but simple. Waters took several wrong turns before being swept up in the Berkeley Free Speech years and joining a group of free-spirited bohemians. She knew both Jerry Rubin and Francis Ford Coppola, and absorbed new ideas about politics, design, films, and food. By 1971, she was ready to turn these disparate influences into her own restaurant. The opening was chaotic, but Chez Panisse was instantly popular. As its fame grew, Waters became an admired activist and a decorated chef, receiving the French Legion of Honor, the WSJ Magazine Humanitarian Innovator Award, and three James Beard Awards.
