Fig

The persona poems in FIG come to us in the voice of chef and food activist Alice Waters. In these poems, Waters offers us advice and encouragement: how to eat, how to take care of our bodies, and how to feed our communities. Waters, whose early life was shaped by the social justice protests in Berkeley, is responsible for changing the way we eat in America. She started a restaurant that introduced farm-to-table eating to Americans. She brought us wood-fired pizzas and is at the center of the Slow Food Movement in the U.S. Along with Michelle Obama, she has launched the reform movement for school lunches. And yet, even today, she walks in her restaurant tasting, moving a fork, lighting a lamp, and striving to create the perfect meal for those who come to Chez Panisse. To reflect her deep care and precision as a chef, each of the poems in this book is written in a poetic form.