Go ask Alice

The big discussion about kids and food usually focuses on obesity and health. That's not something you focus on directly.

I've never focused on that directly. I think health is the outcome of finding a balance and some satisfaction at the table.

You think that if people eat this way, good health will be a natural outcome.

This isn't a new philosophy. This isn't mine -- it's been around since the beginning of time. Eat what's locally available. Eat with your family and friends. Buy from a nearby market. Eat what's exactly in season. These are all understood by people around the world.

You've been traveling around the country recently. I'm sure one of the things people who are not in our West Coast climate wonder about is --

Everybody asks that question. I was waiting for you to ask it. "It's all fine and good in California, but how are we going to do this and other places?" Well, I've visited Yale University, which is a pretty difficult climate. They have 300 varieties of fruits and vegetables in their garden including artichokes, radicchio lettuces and a whole lot of things that don't grow in California. They have to use greenhouses, and that's very important. Everybody on this planet is going to have to do greenhousing because of global warming.

We serve root vegetables here at Chez Panisse in the wintertime. We only have fresh tomatoes here for four months. That's it. It's not nine months or 12 months. Likewise with eggplants and peppers and corn on the cob. These aren't things that grow here. We can have salad outside all winter long, but it's a different kind of salad. Escarole. My mint dies out, my lemon verbena's gone. I have rosemary and thyme but it's different tasting in the winter than the summer.

What do they do in the winter in the Midwest?

You have to think of a different kind of menu. You eat dried fruit and nuts. You make pasta sauces out of canned tomatoes. And you're eating different kinds of grains -- farro with root vegetables. All the root vegetables are there, and now because of all the heirloom varieties you can have a beautiful winter palette just the way the summer palette is beautiful.

There are turnips of every color and shape! Carrots that are white and red and orange and pink! You have different preparations of long-cooking meat. Beautiful eggs and cheese. There are wonderful things to eat in the winter. Cabbages! Cauliflower! We just have to learn to cook these things -- there are cuisines like Italian and Indian that cook these vegetables in such extraordinary ways. We just continue to boil up Brussels sprouts and wonder why we aren't happy.

You told the New York Times that you're disappointed with the presidential candidates.

I am disappointed because nobody is talking about food and agriculture. They're talking about the diets of children, but they're talking about Band-Aids. We're not seeing a vision.

What would you like one of them to say?

I'd like one of them to say -- this is what Richardson just said -- "In my first hundred days I'm going to make public education a No. 1 priority. I'm going to rebuild schools." I know that a lot of them feel strongly about local food and helping farmers but I'm really looking for a big vision that helps us to dramatically change things.

Someone should at least put it out as an issue that's important.

As the issue. The No. 1 issue. Not one of 10. This is No. 1. It's what we all have in common, what we all do every day, and it has consequences that affect everybody's lives. It's not like this is the same thing as crime in the streets -- no, this is more important than crime in the streets. This is not like homeland security -- this actually is the ultimate homeland security. This is more important than anything else.

It seems rather unlikely that any one of them would put this out as a major issue.

I know. But that's because we have been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that food is not important.

One more thing. I saw that you have an iPhone. That seems like a departure.

I am an extremely non-tech person, and they have an e-mail on that iPhone that I can actually do. And so I use it for that purpose. And I also use it to take pictures of food and places and ideas. And I use it as a phone. And I wish I could just throw it out the window, but when I'm on book tours it's a little hard to throw it out the window. But I intend to at some point.

I was surprised considering you say that the only appliance that you use in the kitchen is a toaster.

I don't have any justification other than ... I mean I hate it. I really find it annoying. And I find myself feeling like it's necessary. Answering the phone, answering messages that people have left you. Worrying that they aren't calling when they leave a message. Why didn't they call? Or when you have 20 messages and you can't answer all. The whole trip of it is kind of insane. The worst part of all is that people are sitting on their laps playing with their cellphones when they're eating dinner at a table or listening to you at a lecture. Nobody's paying attention to anybody fully. You can see this happening all over.

I sometimes get the sense that you're kind of advocating for returning to a time long ago.

No, I'm not, not really. Because a time long ago, they were very much locked into a hard life, a narrow life in terms what was being eaten. I think we now have a way of sharing a lot of information that makes the growing of food and the cooking of food and the preparing of food much more diverse and healthy and tasty. So I'm not ready to go back to the diet of gruel.

I was just thinking about something Brillat-Savarin said. "The destiny of nations depends on how we feed ourselves."

That's a really important thing. I want whoever's running for president to say that. The destiny of our nation depends on how we nourish ourselves.

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