let things taste of what they are

Today is Alice Waters' birthday--the inspiration for one of my dream destinations in California,
Chez Panisse, the embodiment of a philosophy about food that resonates with me so strongly. 

"Our full humanity is contingent on our hospitality: we can be complete only when we are giving something away; when we sit at the table and pass the peas to the person next to us we see that person in a whole new way."

"I believe that every child in this world needs to have a relationship with the land...to know how to nourish themselves...and to know how to connect with the community around them. [...]
Because only slow food can teach us the things that really matter — care, beauty, concentration, discernment, sensuality, all the best that humans are capable of, but only if we take the time to think about what we’re eating. [...]
Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education."