Alice Waters

by Dave Woody
Inkjet print, 2010

Chef, author, local food pioneer, and sustainable agriculture advocate Alice Waters has long championed a culinary philosophy centered on the importance of preparing and serving only the freshest, in-season, organic products. Since its founding in 1971, her award-winning Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, has been at the forefront of a “delicious revolution” dedicated to challenging and changing the way that people think about food. The success of Waters’s farm-to-table campaign can be measured in part by the exponential increase in the number of restaurants, farmers’ markets, and mainstream grocery stores that now feature locally grown produce. Waters has also been the driving force behind the Edible Schoolyard movement, whose goal is to give students the opportunity to take an active part in all aspects of the food cycle—from cultivation to consumption.

Dave Woody’s photographs reflect his ongoing interest in “the relationship between the individual and their surrounding landscape.” His portrait of Alice Waters pictures her in the Edible Schoolyard garden she established in Berkeley in 1998.

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; supported by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and by the Marc Pachter Commissioning Fund as part of the first prize, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009 © National Portrait Gallery