Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook

Chef, restaurateur, activist, and author Waters writes about her childhood and formative years leading up to the opening of her iconic Berkeley, CA, restaurant Chez Panisse. Waters grew up in New Jersey in a loving and supportive family with three sisters. She recalls her involvement in the free speech movement at the University of California, Berkeley, the politically turbulent 1960s, and her opposition to the Vietnam War. A trip to France during her junior year of college was a life-changing experience, as she fell in love with the country's food and lifestyle, later incorporating those elements into Chez Panisse—a radical restaurant at the time that focused on organic and locally grown food and served one menu per evening. The author writes vividly about the major influences in her life (art and cinema), the artistic circle of friends she surrounded herself with in Berkeley, and the roles they played in her life and business. Failings along the way (such as training to be a Montessori instructor then realizing that she did not have the patience for teaching) are depicted with honesty and humor.