Louise Rafkin - Writing Sample

Business Lunch With Chef Alice Waters

Name something people might be surprised to see in the kitchen of a world-class chef, that is in yours right now.

My fireplace! It's cozy and I cook everything in it -- from toast to a grilled chicken on a spit. I make a fire several days a week.

Have you ever bought an irresistible-looking kitchen gadget that you ended up considering useless?

I'm not a gadget person. I have bought some expensive mandolines -- that's a slicer that you stroke like a mandolin, and which cuts quickly and evenly for something like a potato gratin. But I found I didn't need one that costs $150, the one that cost $12 works fine.

People in other lines of work often say they go home and cook for therapy to unwind. What do you do to unwind?

A good glass of wine in front of the fire does it.

Describe one elegant, quick and simple dish that even the least gifted cooks among us could prepare.

Every morning I make a simple lunch for my teenage daughter. I'm so proud that she still wants one; all her friends eat in the cafeteria. This morning I sectioned a grapefruit, took off the skin, and added a ripe, sliced avocado. This I put on a bed of greens, with a dash of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Grapefruit goes so well with avocado. I put in some garlic toast -- that's a simple, great lunch.

What do you think are the components of a successful business lunch?

Eating is pleasure and business is pleasure. I like bringing both aspects of life together. I love to bring people to the restaurant and talk over a table of good food.

What's the best menu for a lunch over which you want to close a deal?

I close deals over lunch if people have had a good time. It's important to me that my associates experience food in all dimensions -- especially the smell of good food. I like to reach people in subliminal ways and good smells do just that. I'm thinking now of a souffle, or a bowl of minestrone soup.

(At business lunches,) I'm always hoping people will open up their senses which will bring information into their minds. Food is a way to open up minds -- it has a sense of ritual, and brings community. I like the idea of passing food at the table; I like serving dishes that are shared. And I always light candles at the table, even if I am only having a simple lunch.

What three people, living or dead, would you want to lunch with?

I always like dining with (writer) Calvin Trillin -- I like good story tellers and great conversationalists. As for those who are no longer here, I would also like to eat with some of my mentors, say, Elizabeth Davis, and Richard Olney, a great cook who lived in the south of France.

At this lunch, what would you serve -- or, if you didn't want to cook, who would you have cook?

Nilouser Ichaporia is a wonderful friend, and writer, who is a great cook and food anthropologist. I adore Indian cooking.

Do people find it intimidating to cook for you?

I hope they don't. I'm always pleased to go to someone's house for dinner. I have a lot of good cook friends -- and a lot of times we cook together. We'll arrive and the food is all there but nothing is done. Each of us will take on a course. This is a lovely way to spend time with friends, and also to take the pressure off a hostess.

If you weren't doing what you are doing, what would you like to do?

It's difficult to say -- I like what I am doing. Probably something to do with agriculture. Not farming, but perhaps running a vegetable stand at a farmer's market.

Is there a question no one ever asks but that you are dying to answer?

I believe the choices each of us make about food really affect the quality of your life, and the way the world is run. I want to buy food from people who care about my nourishment, and the well-being of the land and the future. Several times a day, we make decisions where to give our food money: Should we give it to those people who are destroying or poisoning the world's resources? Or should we support people who are concerned for the future of the planet, about caring for the earth? These questions drive my daily decision-making at home and at Chez Panisse.

Luckily, making good decisions leads me to enjoying delicious foods.

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