[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 200 (Wednesday, November 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S8343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING CHEZ PANISSE

 Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the 50th 
anniversary of Chez Panisse, the pioneering home of farm-to-table 
cooking in Berkeley, CA.
  Chez Panisse was founded in 1971 by Alice Waters, then a young 
Montessori teacher. She felt that by strengthening her community's 
connection to seasonal foods and local growers, she could foster new 
ideas and connections. At the core of the new restaurant was a sense of 
social responsibility and limitless communal potential.
  Guided by Alice Waters' ideals, Chez Panisse spurred a movement of 
slow food and local eating, showing that sustainability could ground a 
gourmet menu. Alice Waters mentored countless young chefs on her staff, 
many of whom went on to open restaurants, found companies, or write 
cookbooks of their own. Today, the style pioneered at Chez Panisse is 
known as California cuisine.
  And Alice Waters never lost sight of the principles that inspired 
her. To commemorate the restaurant's 25th anniversary in 1996, she 
launched the Chez Panisse Foundation, which supports organic gardening 
and culinary education in schools. Thousands of schools across the 
world now benefit from the curriculum developed through her Edible 
Schoolyard Project.
  Chez Panisse is an icon of the California culinary scene, offering a 
testament to the fruits of eating locally and sustainably. I 
congratulate Alice Waters and all the staff of Chez Panisse on this 
remarkable anniversary and send my best wishes for the decades to 
come.

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