I really enjoyed Chez Panisse Fruit. So much so that I have asked my husband for it for my birthday. When I came across this book at the library, I got it out in high anticipation. Having read the reviews and having been so happy with the Fruit book, I can barely describe how disappointing this book is. First of all, Alice really needs to stop being so damn self congratulatory. I should have taken the title "Recipes from a Delicious Revolution" more seriously and realized that mostly the chatty comments are her saying how great she and her restaurant is.

Am I wrong here or is local food pretty much what everyone ate before refrigerated trucks. So Basically she went back to cooking the way people cooked prior to WWII. Congratulations, how innovative.

The book lacks the charm of her Fruit book. There are only small paragraphs at the beginning of each section and not enough comments. I really liked how she would talk about the different fruit or the different recipe. I wish she had done that with this book.

Also, the lack of pictures is also a major pet peeve for me. I didn't try any of the recipes. They just didn't inspire me. You want a good book on how to cook food simply, get something by the folks at Cook's Illustrated.

I think the average cookbook reader/cook has really moved beyond these very basic techniques and recipes. It might be a better purchase for someone just starting out. None of the recipes moved me to try them--indeed, it felt as if I'd already done some variation on most of them.

I heard about this book in our local newspaper. I don't usually read cook books, but this one is really interesting and readable like a good novel. She describes many ways to use natural ingredients. I haven't cooked with this book yet, but it is good reading.

I choose cookbooks very carefully, I take it quite seriously. If I could only keep one, it would be The Art of Simple Food. The best version of everything. Give it as a wedding or house warming gift.

Love it! Yes it is simple..but that's great because with three kids under seven simple is the order of the day. My favorite thing is it is real food. No processed short cuts. Yet the recipes I've made have been fast-even with beans the actual hands on time was minimal. More importantly my kids love it. Also it is very budget friendly. Her list of staples and the numerous recipes you can make from them are a godsend. It is so great to have a list of dishes I can make from a few different panty.
It is often said that budget friendly and healthy don't go together, however I find with this book the opposite is true. Seasonal foods are often on sale, and because she has so many simple bean and grain based foods I can cut down on expensive meats.

I own several other titles by the author, so I was surprised to see that the contents were somewhat rudimentary by cooking standards. That does not mean is is not an excellent cook book. It would be my first choice to give to a college student or a teenager leaving home to live on their own.
It's a great foundation for someone who is learning about cuisine (mostly French) at an early stage of their life.

A was expecting a lot more Alice and less recipes. And the recipes are all pretty pedestrian, not Chez Pannise uber-recipes. A better title would have been- "Learning to Cook with Alice Waters"

This book is much more than a collection of recipes. It actually teaches you how to cook. From seasoning the meat at least a day in advance to taking its temperature and pressing with your finger to judge how well done it is, this book can make a cook out of anyone, including me. The slow cooking recipes make fantastic winter food. My 8 year old daughter called the braised chicken legs "the best chicken I ever tasted in my life, dad".

After buying this book for my girlfriend for Christmas - I then bought it for my brother (a brilliant chef) and my mom (mother of a brilliant chef).

All three love it - i love it. it makes my mouth water.

This book would make a wonderful present. For me it's like having a basic cookbook, but feeling like you're getting cooking secrets that make your cooking better. It's changed the way I think about cooking. The recipes I've tried so far are yummy. I've tried the Bolognese sauce, which I highly recommend. My husband had four servings, I kid you not. I was hoping for leftovers, no such luck. The carnitas and the roasted chicken. All were excellent. Even my kids 4 and 7 enjoyed them. It makes you want to experiment and try new things. I feel inspired when I menu plan each week. It's taken the doldrums out of cooking and brought in new enjoyment. You also get information about the importance of buying local and there's more, but that's what I remember most.

I've only tried three recipes, but I look forward to trying more.

There are so many reasons I appreciate Alice Waters and the fact she is such a 'foodie'. The fact she supports eating local foods, is trying to educate school children in her area, and for the most part prepares food in a simple direct way, are all reasons I admire her.

But lets not forget as she noted on the Charlie Rose Show, she hasn't cooked in her own restaurant since her oldest child, now in their twenties, was born. It does bother me that with all the emphasis on eating local, that many of the recipes call for ingredients from across the world.

And it also bothers me that modern day 'foodies' can often have a snob element. But I try and overlook these negatives and appreciate the fact she is trying to educate folks on buying local, and organic foods. Would like for Ms Waters and other authors of food books, would remind readers that its ok to play around with recipes and punch them up to fit ones own tastes.

But I would have liked her to write more on how do those working families, trying to keep their heads above water, afford organic foods where they live?

Yes, organic is best in the long run, but so often those with money living in upscale areas of the community, don't really grasp what everyday folks working long hours with less money are up against.

But I still recommend the book because I like new recipes and figure there is more positive than negative to what she has written.

I was very excited to received this book since I had read so many positive reviews about it. Unfortunately, it was a pretty big disappointment. To start with the layout is, in my opinion, terrible. The pages are very crowded and since there is no ingredient list in teh beginning of every recipre, you need to read the whole recipe to make sure you have all of the ingredients. I have only made a few of the recipes so far but I found them to be just average.

This book is wonderful, a fascinating look at the basics of cooking with fresh insights that will please even an experienced cook. Of course, all these tidbits are supported by the author's long experience with fresh and local foods. I am not a "high" cook, but I do enjoy the kitchen and would recommend the book to anyone.

I have been cooking regularly for about 18 years now, and for about the last 9 years or so it has become a real passion for me. I also have a personal library of hundreds of cook books. But I still found this book to be both an enjoyable and an educational read. The book has filled in some gaps in my cooking knowledge that I didn't even realize were there, or maybe more exactly, crystallized my thinking about some cooking ideas and techniques that I was somewhat fuzzy about. Reading this book also made me realize that somewhere along the way I had unconsciously developed the belief that if preparing my food was too simple, it wasn't "real" cooking. This was starting to take a lot of the fun out of cooking for me and turning it back into a chore. Ms. Waters has given me permission to explore all the ways that delicious food can be prepared with just a few steps and top notch ingredients. Cooking is fun again.

More concretely, as a result of reading this book I find that I am wasting much less food, and finding much more creative ways to use the things that I have in my refrigerator and pantry, which is translating into spending less money at the grocery store.

For me, the real value of the book was not the recipes, but the discussion of ingredients, cooking techniques and Ms. Waters' personal approach to preparing delicious food for her family and friends.

I bought this book to add to my collection of other Chez Panisse books. It's very well written and has some good ideas for both the novice and the experienced cook. The only main gripe that I had with the book is that all of the recipes are scaled to feed 4 persons -- not a problem in itself but if one doesn't pay attention one could accidently double or triple a recipe and end up with an obscene amount of food. It appears as though the quantities were not completely well thought out or Ms. Waters is advocating that we eat larger portions of protein than one actually needs to.

This is a good book for people who want good food with normal, everyday ingredients. Roasting vegetables is quick, easy, simple and tastey. Salt , paper. oil. No crazy expensive ingredients. Simple meat preperation, that gives yummy results. Life is complicated enough. A good book for a gift for someone who needs to learn, but a good book for people who have been cooking for years,too.

I am so sorry to give your cookbook such a low review Ms. Waters, but I was very disappointed with it. At first read, the book seemed very informative with a clean, new layout. But when you read the text closely, you will find that the information is not that groundbreaking and the organization of the book is a bit confusing.

But more importantly, I was underwhelmed with the recipes in this book. I have so far cooked 3 recipes and they both needed a bit more zing. The author has at least stuck to the title of the book and provided us with recipes for "simple food", with very few ingredients and steps (a big contrast to the other Chez Panisse book I own) but the results of the recipes really needed a lot of help from sharp spices. I just read through the first few 5-star reviews and it didn't seem to me that any of those reviewers had actually cooked out of the book.

The author's underlying philosophy echos some things I always thought myself, with the main one being that cooking requires good ingredients which includes taking into account when certain foods work better (meaning the food is in season).

There is a good overview of the concepts that re-occur for good cooking, proper equipment, herbs, spices, etc.

Some of the things are obvious, the fresher the ingredients in the food the better the taste, but regardless having the guide and some very nice recipes that can be put together to make dishes (at least the ones I have tried so far) that you can be happy with (and which others will enjoy) makes the book worthwhile to have.

Chez Panisse is a great restaurant that actually serves simple food, which is what makes this book a credible account of Alice Water's food philosophy. From dining at her restaurant a few times now, I have found that the majority of--and the best--dishes are the ones with minimal manipulation: garden salad with vinaigrette, baked wild salmon, a plate of three cheeses.

This book gives you all the advice you need to replicate some of these dishes. Take the garden salad, for instance. It was visually stunning. The leaves were vital and beautiful. Each was dressed in the right amount of a subtle vinaigrette. In the book, you learn how all this is possible. The freshness? Waters stresses the short time from field to plate, the lettuce picked in the morning and served within the day. The quality? Grown using sustainable methods, the lettuces are a beautiful product. ("Go to the farmer's market" is her constant exhortation.) The dressing? To make the vinaigrette properly, she provides this insight: adding the proper amount of salt to the vinegar will produce "a wonderful balance" by rounding out the acidity.

The book is part sustainability manifesto, part technique manual, part recipe collection. Collectively, they form the parts needed for a beginning cook to become proficient in making and appreciating good food.

This is a delightful book to read and use. If you are an Alice Waters fan, you will
very much enjoy reading it and making the recipes.

Just as the title says. Appreciation of real simple food. I have over 100 cookbooks and I find this one refreshing.

I am a big Alice Waters fan and this cookbook does not disappoint. Her narrative - to accompany instructions - is entertaining and helpful. I gave this to my daughter who is just learning to cook and she found it wonderful, too. Highly recommend for any level of chef.

I am hardly a novice to the kitchen, but this book opened up some new perspectives for me. Although I'm a fairly experienced cook, I often follow recipes to the letter, sometimes not even tasting them before serving because I've imagined (accurately) how they will taste. This book is more about techniques and a philosophy of fresh food than just a set of recipes. The recipes are good, but the "lessons" are better. How to make pilaf and why you do which steps when. Basics of a good chicken broth. How (and when, and what kind) to grill or pan fry meat.

I enjoyed the book very much and continue to develop new ideas based off of the approaches presented. My only complaint is that although the recipes emphasize fresh food and using free range, in season and local ingredients, many of the recipes are not whole grain, using white rice and white flour most of the time. But that's a minor complaint. With some experience, you can substitute and have good results, which is part of the whole value of this book.

Alice Waters helps cooks find their paths, while taking the snobbery and elusiveness out of the creation of a healthy, delicious, and stunning meal. She shares her methods, from the knives and pots and pans she uses to the ingredients she keeps stocked in her pantry and refrigerator. I felt like I was reading a guide passed down by an elder who understands both the spiritual and practical value of preparing wholesome food. As well, the recipes I tried are simple and outstanding. I'm thrilled that Alice wrote this book. This is a great gift for the experienced but jaded chef, a young person just exploring the meaning of a great meal, or anyone interested in simplifying their way of thinking about food and cooking. Big thanks, Alice!

This is a wonderful addition to a cook's library and to a fan of Alice Waters. It can often be used as a reference book for cooking with fresh produce and ingredients. Many great ideas.

The first half of the book explains some of the basic techniques of cooking, without assuming the reader is either an idiot or an experienced cook. I have only had a chance to make a few of the recipes so far, but the sections on roasting a chicken and making a stock were very useful. The second half of the book is a wonderful collection of recipes and I look forward to trying more of them over the holidays.

I plan to give this book to a few people for Christmas.

Simplicity.
The art of Italian cooking is not in fanciful technique or exotic ingredients, but in the means of preparation -- how to cook in a way that relies on the flavor of the food, and not its embellishments. Put away the weird salts and multicolored peppercorns and get back to the Rule of Three.
It is terrific that someone people will pay attention to has written about this, but there is nothing revolutionary about it.
Go to the store, buy some stuff that looks good, and cook it.
Don't worry, be happy, and have fun.

there has never been a simple time, even when there was simple food. even with food processors, william-sonoma, oxo and rachael ray, simple food requires more time to prepare. the reward is tasty, healthy, and supports local growers. but you have to decide what in your not-so-simple life you will forgo to take advantage of the opportunity.

Alice Waters book is both wonderful and problematic at the same time. Ms. Waters restaurant is justly famous for its high quality and also for being located in Berkeley, the bluest patch of the bluest region of the bluest state in the United States. She has taken what in France would be just plain common sense - go to market filled with the week's fresh produce, recently caught fish, just butchered meats and artisanal wines, cheeses and breads and take it home and make something good to eat with it - and has, in the context of both her local Berkeley environment and the industrialized, dumbed down, pre packaged American food system, converted common sense into a typically Californian food ideology. The first part of her book is suffused with odes to and politically correct suggestions for doing good in the world, supporting alternative farmers, being a force for change, and suggestions for how you ought to relate to and involve other people in your cooking. She is, in short, a classic Berkeley type.

The fact that her perch in Berkeley has both nurtured her and made her ideas seem reasonable, and that the San Francisco Bay Area is both economically and logistically perfect for supporting the ideas that she promotes, while many other places, where many of her readers live for example, would be much less perfect, seems of no importance to her. Although her ideas are, once again, just plain common sense, and have risen to the level of faith and ideology only in the context of the awful food culture that most Americans live in, they are presented as pseudo political imperatives. The fact that a reader in any of the hundreds of drab towns across America that depend on Wal-Mart for food supplies would be hard pressed to follow any of her advice on sourcing ingredients is, evidently, unimportant. Julia Child, for example, in her first book on French Cooking, did everything possible to somehow convert her knowledge of French cooking into terms and ingredients that an American housewife of the day could have actually purchased close to home without becoming a food activist and general pain in the rear.

All that said, once you get past the introductory sections, what you have is a lovely, wonderful cookbook. Whatever Ms. Water believes in, it doesn't matter as long as that belief and mission have caused her to become such a good cook, make such wonderful meals and share such great insights and recipes in this otherwise marvelous cookbook. She could believe n Batman and tiny elves living in her light sockets who give her secret instructions about butterfat for all I care. If the end result was this kind of cooking that would be fine with me. I just wish she could of spared us the side trip to the East Bay outlook and suggestions for socially responsible participation in society.

I am sure there are many people who LOVE this kind of stuff, and have been very comforted in their local hamlets to know that Ms. Waters is on their side, thinking right, doing good, wanting a better world, believing in justice, having a small footprint, and involving people in your responsible lifestyle and your caring relationships to nurture a better world. That's just fine. But cooking is ultimately about making something good with what you have at hand. And although it's important for people to both know and always seek the best ingredients, it is more important that they know what to do with ingredients once they have them.

I firmly believe that this is such a good cookbook that you could have the carbon foot print of Godzilla, personally emit an entire cow herds worth of methane gas every day, drive a SUV gas guzzler, never recycle and be politically incorrect from cradle to grave and still be able to go to Wal-Mart, or even worse, and still make lovely, tasty dishes with this book. The take away here is that you don't have to own a Prius to like Alice Water's Cookbook, although I am sure that's her target audience. It's a great cookbook, assuming she will leave you alone to work in a guilt free kitchen, doing, eating and acting as you please.

If I could only have one cookbook, this would be the one! Waters explains techniques with such clarity that a novice cook can get started in the kitchen, while an experienced cook can learn plenty of new things. She gives excellent, basic recipes that cover what most home cooks would want to make. (Every one I've tried has become my standard recipe!) She adds enough detail and suggestions for variation that you would never need another cookbook.

This is a wonderful cook book. She starts with the basics, yet the recipes are gourment quality. I like that she cooks with fresh herbs yet not many ingredients. Easy recipes for delicious results.

I bought this book for my wife, but it turned out to be as much of fun for me as for her. The book arrived just before we were leaving on a long car trip. I drove, and she read aloud. The book is beautifully written. The miles passed and I listened while she read about local foods and careful, loving preparation. Reading a good book can certainly be a group activity. Even better was when we got home and words were turned into meals.

How do you learn to cook like Alice Waters? This book is a great asset for all cooks. The simple recipes are time savers for the busy or new to the kitchen cook. The section on Alice Waters' favorite kitchen tools was very helpful; I bought a Japanese mortar & pestle called a suribachi and use it often for making salad dressings without having to use my knife and cutting board to finely chop garlic or shallots. The book makes a great gift!The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution

It's funny -- about six months ago I was wishing for a cookbook that focused less on recipes than on cooking techniques. I don't much like cooking from a cookbook, really. I like to get some ingredients and then figure out how to bring them together, so this book really spoke to me.

It's organized by cooking technique, and Waters speaks of the experience of cooking more than the step-by-step instructions -- although she includes those as well. In the section on roasting, for instance, she talks about how she knows a bird is done, what she is looking for as she observes and then tests the bird with her fingers. There is a palpable love for food in her words, as she walks you through her process of cooking, deciding what and how to cook and then creating it.

If you enjoy cooking, I would definitely recommend this book.

A great cook book and guide for simple food using fresh and local ingredients. I love the variation suggestions on recipes that she gives, as well as explanations as to why this or that works and not just a list of ingredients and instructions. The only thing I would have enjoyed more would be photos. Still a top notch cookbook even with out the photos!

that little more is added in that this book does have some great breakdowns of basic recipes everyone should know, that some chefs take for granted in writing a cookbook. I like the idea that you can give people these simple outlines, and then allow them to take it where they want to, letting cooking be the free flowing "make it how you like it" sort of activity it should be. The problem is some people are still stuck there and fear the "i like it, but it won't taste good" sort of problem. Maybe the second half of the book with more recipe-recipes so to speak, will help the people suffering that fate.
Though very basic at parts, i enjoyed the conversational aspects and notes i forget don't even enter most people's minds. Local, sustainable, and seasonal are words in my everyday vocabulary and involvement with the food i make, serve, and study.... but that is not so for the general american population. I applaud Waters for taking the extra step to inform people of the importance of that, but i think breaking the second half of the book down into recipes by season could have provided support for that aspect of her approach.
This should be a book people have, and literally, cook their way through it, mastering the skills as they go.Nothing is too complicated for novices, but some recipes take some time, as they should. For the more advanced chefs in your life? Maybe not the best choice, but still a good read...just as the title implies.. a lovely simple book to have.

Was just thinking how great a stocking stuffer this book would be for lovers of good food. With the holidays fast approaching, I'm starting to compile my shopping list. Books have always been my favorite stocking stuffer. Much better than the mindless toys and trinkets most people give.

Searched Amazon.com's bestsellers for each category and here are some stocking stuffer suggestions...

For Baby Boomers: "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty (You)"

For College Students: "How To Ace Your Way Through College and Still Have a Life"

For Young Girls: "The Daring Book for Girls"

For Young Boys: "Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy"

For Moms with Small Children: "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food"

For Working Women: "Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny"

For Men: "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life"

For Entrepreneurs: "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich"

I looked forward to this book with eager anticipation. I was not disappointed. I have followed Alice Waters' life and career for more than 20 years and have always looked to her for inspiration. I have all of her other books, and while "Pat's Biscotti" from her first book, The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook, has been a staple from my kitchen, this new collection far outshines the rest.

I have been cooking exclusively from this book for the past two weeks. Everything, absolutely everything I have made has been stellar! First, there was the minestrone, which included homemade chicken stock and beans cooked from scratch. I have made both for years, but was never really satisfied, and more recently have relied on boxed broths and canned beans. No longer. The chicken stock was not over-powered by too many vegetables as recommended in other recipes, the beans were tender and held together, and they were seasoned to perfection with Alice's direction to taste and salt along the way. This resulted in a minstrone that was as near to perfection as I have ever tasted. I added kale to mine, which added great color.

As I write this review, I am eating my lunch, which is the Polenta Torta, which I made two days ago. It is still as fabulous as it was then. First, Alice directs us to cook the polenta for one hour - yes, one hour. I thought to myself, oh, I don't need to do that; 30 minutes will suffice. I had the time, so I let the polenta cook quietly on the back burner for the entire hour. What a difference! Unbelievable taste and consistency! I layered this goodness with the Simple Tomato Sauce and added a layer of sauteed mushrooms and a separate layer of sauteed zucchini. This is comfort food at its best!

In addition, I've made the scones - light, sweet, but not cloying; the Bean Gratin, which I served alongside plain ploenta - great taste and texture combination; and the peach crisp - a juxtaposition of texture, with the soft peaches and raspberries contrasted with the crunchy topping (I used slivered almonds, which I chopped and toasted in a dry skillet. I also added the zest of an orange - an Ina Garten trick.)

Tonight, I can't wait to get home to cook the Braised Chicken Legs with Tomato and Garlic. I've been cooking avidly and passionately for a long time, and I haven't been this inspired by a single cookbook for a while. It's great to get the spark back. Thank you, Alice.

I've eaten in the Chez Panisse Cafe and Cafe Fanny (the breakfast bar) every time I get to Berkely. Someday, I will get to eat Downstairs. Until then, I'll just have to be content with this most treasured tome.

a useful addition to the Chez Panisse cookbook shelf. She begins with general information about types of foods and cooking methods with several example recipes for each, then moves to a more traditional cookbook recipe format. I have made 2 recipes from it so far:
1) found the long-cooked lamb shoulder too sweet from all the carrots in the pureed vegetable sauce
2) used the "fish in breadcrumbs" recipe for a salmon fillet and it was great.
Certainly the book focuses on healthy foods sustainably grown.

I see a few complaints here and I think the writers of those complaints should realize that maybe while they're beyond this book (though I bet even they would find great things in it), many of us will find it the PERFECT foundation (and education!) from which to expand upon. (Indeed, on first thumbing through the book I was struck with what a great gift Alice Waters has made to us and to her family, passing down her hard-earned knowledge from one generation to another). I have bought well over 100 cookbooks in the past two years, and most are poorly written and make assumptions about what you know (or are all style and little substance). Alice Waters' new book, instead, gives the aspiring cook a great foundation upon which to build. All know is that (living in the Bay Area as I do, and eating at both Chez Panisse and Cafe Fanny many a time) you cannot go wrong with this book, if like me you have found most cookbooks very uneven or even impractical. This is simply superb and a great achievement. It's destined to be a classic in the not too distant future in the way that Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is looked upon today. I could not have asked for anything more than what I bought here, and at such a great price relative to what I got in return for my money. Thank you, Alice Waters. I am not an everyday cook but I do like to get adventurous on weekends, and over time I find great recipes that are solid and nearly foolproof and have extraordinary flavor (like your can't miss ice cream recipe in Fanny at Chez Panisse, which I doctor up with whatever's in season -- especially a mix of raspberries and blackberries, which makes a beautiful color as well as tasting superb).

Having been a fan of food and cook books for some years I was disappointed in the newest book from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food. My disappointment comes mainly from the fact that cookbooks should have covers and spines that can be kept clean or cleaned off with a damp cloth or sponge. A dust jacket would be helpful, too, in preserving a book that was meant to be used in a kitchen. But, this book has a cloth bound spine and no dust jacket and that means it will be prey to dust, dirt and grease and the covers and spine will have a short shelf life in a working kitchen. Catherine Pannell

This book is very basic and uninspiring. There were only one or two recipes that seemed interesting. This book would be good if your are new to thinking about meals and cooking food and sharing it with others. An old Joy of Cooking would do as well, if not better. I am disappointed.

I ordered this book because of a fantastic review I read in the New York Times. The book is all of that and more!!!

After our trip to Italy this summer, we decided to take a more simplistic approach to cooking--better ingredients, fewer flourishes--inspired by italian cooking. I read a review of this book and a story on its author Alice Waters in the NYTimes just before it was released and I knew I wanted to get it immediately to help in our transition to easier cooking. This is not a traditional cookbook, it has no glossy pictures and builds on themes instead of just listing recipies alphabetically. It's good for mastering the basics, and has some good foundation recipies that it offers variations to (i've tried a few of the deserts and they are all very good). A lot of the recipies in this book are not geared towards people who are working on a limited time frame or budget. Simple food for Waters does not equal fast or cheap food. But the food is good, and you feel like its good for you. It is great for my husband and I though, since we live in an urban area and have access to lots of the things needed.

But if you're looking for fast easy recipies, or even recipies that you won't have to visit a nicer grocery store to make well, this isn't the book for you.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that this is a very special cookbook, and I don't say that lightly. I am an avid reader and user of cookbooks and have a collection of over 100 volumes. I have learned to discern the quality of a recipe by reading it and I am very keen on simple cooking techniques. At first blush the book may not appear to be so special, but a careful reading of the recipes proves otherwise. While I have always admired Alice Waters for her philosophy about food I am not an especial fan and have never bought one of her cookbooks before. From reading this book I can see that Alice Waters excels at using the simplest methods with the freshest ingredients to let the food's natural goodness shine through, and she is also a master at how to use just the right amount of subtle tweaking with herbs and spices or a special little technique that really makes the difference between a good dish and a great dish, but not a contrived dish. I especially liked her novel ideas about "shallow poaching" and "slow roasting" of salmon, two unique methods that require the minimum effort for maximum results. Many cookbooks claim to save time and effort or maximize creativity, but they usually result in mediocre food in my experience. Like any great artist Alice has mastered the foundation techniques such that she knows when to go beyond them and when to retain them for the best results. I also was impressed with her pared down lists of "pantry" and "perishable" staples (which has been done before, but not so well), which contain the most important ingredients upon which to build all recipes. With these staples in the cupboard & fridge all you need do is shop for the "ultra-perishables" such as fresh seafood, poulty, meat, fruit, vegetables and herbs. There isn't a recipe in this book that I am not eager to try.

I just learned of Alice's book and have it on my list of books to get. I was impressed by her recent appearance on "The Today Show," where she made a simple salad with local ingredients. She was very articulate and laidback. So, if that demeanor translates onto the written page, this should be a quality book. Her "slow food" philosophy has really caught on, including in my North Carolina community. So, some of us are trying to create our own Chez Panisse-like recipes with locally harvested ingredients.
I look forward to plunging into Alice's new book.

`The Art of Simple Food' by the one and only Alice Waters is a rare treat for foodie readers, and an even rarer treat for those who wish to master the craft of cooking effortlessly. I can think of very, very few cookbooks which succeed as well as this one at teaching good, creative cooking at home. Those very few are the last two books by Jacques Pepin, `Chez Jacques' and `Fast Food, My Way', a few of Nigel Slater's books, especially `The Kitchen Diaries', and Waters' mentor's book, Richard Olney's `Simple French Food'.
As with Pepin's works, my initial reaction to any important culinary figure's producing a `fast' or `easy' cookbook is suspicion that they are trying to cash in on the popularity of Rachael Ray's 30 minute meal mantra or Sandra Lee's `semi-homemade' fast and easy rubrics. And, like Pepin's books, this book is the real deal, giving superb, original insights on SIMPLE cooking at home. One of the very first things to realize, as Olney stated it in his book, `simple' is not the same as `fast' or `easy'. The notion of `simple' food is itself complicated enough to require seven pages in his introduction to thoroughly explain. In a nutshell, it excludes complicated menus, elaborate plating, and fancy sauces. It does include baking bread, making our own pastry, making our own homemade pasta, and making our own stocks and broths. Each of these activities can easily take several hours.
We cook simply not to save time or effort, but to avoid masking the great qualities of our ingredients. So, simplicity in cooking has a symbiotic relation to Ms. Waters' most famous doctrines, of using fresh, organically grown local ingredients, when they are in season. And, if there were anything at all with which to find fault in this book, it is the constant preaching on that topic. This is not entirely Miss Alice's fault, as reading this book is much like reading `Hamlet'. So many lines sound like clichés, not because Shakespeare was a hack, but because `Hamlet' is easily the most often quoted play in the English language.
This book fits exactly into my perennial analogy between learning cooking and learning chess. The rules of chess are quite simple, and yet it is almost impossible to summarize the principles of good chess strategy. So, learning the deeper lessons of chess involves simply replaying the games of the great chess masters, and appreciating how they saw their moves. Similarly, almost everything written about how to cook involves simply reciting recipes. And yet, the very best writing on cooking rises above simply following recipes and reaches that way of thinking one achieves when they are finally able to cook without a book. Paradoxically, Waters begins with some of the very strictest recommendations on how to successfully follow a particular recipe, going far beyond the simple suggestions of reading through it and gathering all your ingredients together. But, like the famous little book on chess by Emanuel Lasker, `Common Sense in Chess', one achieves independent thinking by experiencing the patterns from great games. With Olney and Waters, the great exemplar is the very best home cooking.
The subtitle of the book, `Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution' may have been just a bit more accurate if it had emphasized the `lessons', since these are the soul of the book. Almost half the book is filled with 17 chapters on important cooking techniques that every home cook should really know by heart. These are `Four Essential Sauces', `Salads', `Bread', `Broth and Soup', `Beans, Dried and Fresh', `Pasta and Polenta', `Rice', `Into the Oven (Roasting)', `Out of the Frying Pan', `Slow Cooking', `Simmering', `Over the Coals' (grilling), Omelets and Souffles', `Tarts, Savory and Sweet', `Fruit Desserts', `Custard and Ice Cream', and `Cookies and Cake'. In a very gentle, very motherly way, Miss Alice communicates something like `master recipes', however, they are generally simpler than the famous `Master Recipe' template used so successfully by Julia Child. But then, Alice and Julia are really not doing quite the same thing. The lessons in the first half of the book are so well presented, I would easily recommend this as a superb textbook for a course on home cooking. And, in spite of having read over 400 cookbooks, I still found new insights in this book.
The second half of the book is comprised of recipes which emulate the model Alice creates in the first half of the book. The selection of recipes reminds me of Ted Allen's book title, `The Food You Want to Eat', in that we have great simple recipes for lots of everyone's favorite dishes. The `Salads' chapter, in its 27 recipes, includes `Hearts of Romaine with Creamy Dressing', `Caesar Salad', `Chicken Salad', `Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad', `Nicoise Salad', `Coleslaw', `Potato Salad', `Carrot Salad', and `Greek Salad'. Most recipes have multiple variations, except for the real `standards' such as Caesar's salad.
The first chapter on `Getting Started' is as good as or better than most I've seen on basic equipment and techniques. In this area, Ms. Waters really does well as a model for the home cook, as she describes herself as a minimalist, and prefers to work with as few tools as possible. Her lessons here on knife skills are not as complete as Pepin's `Complete Techniques', but that is not what this book is about. It's about common sense cooking at home. The second chapter, `What to Cook' is another lesson in simplicity, with some inspired suggestions on how to get the most out of novel eating venues.
The writing flows so smoothly, I'm surprised at how fast I get through its impressive 405 pages. I'm even more impressed by the fact that it seems Ms. Waters probably contributed more herself to this book than many others where she is listed as the author. Thus, this is a classic foodie treasure, in that reading it gives as much pleasure as cooking from it.

As an experienced recreational cook I am very disappointed by this book. It has been getting alot of press from the NY Times and the Today show. Alice Waters is no doubt a wonderful cook and I have her other books - especially usefull is her book on vegetables. No doubt she has access to fresh and wonderful produce living in California and running a successful restaurant. We all want to buy the freshest ingredients possible. There is nothing "revolutionary" about this book - instead it is a basic book for people who are just learning to cook and/or put together a kitchen. The recipes are basic and somewhat boring. For anyone who would like to learn cooking basics I would recommend James Beard's Theory and Basics of Cooking instead.

Nothing more to say: in every generation there exists one memorable cookbook behind which all others pale in comparison. In the early 60s, it was Mastering the Art of French Cooking; in the late 70s, it was Silver Palate. It's always been The Joy of Cooking, and Jean Anderson's Doubleday Cookbook. But for this generation, tired of overwrought recipes created by celeb TV chefs and meant for the restaurant kitchen, The Art of Simple Food is a brilliant instant classic packed with recipes that are as close to perfection as I've seen. This is a keeper that will endure for years and years.

I've barely owned this book a few days now, but its importance too me has skyrocketed in that time. I bought it because Alice Waters wrote it, and I have all her other books, so I might as well own this one too. By the second glance inside I was certain that isn't just another book to add to the collection. This is a powerhouse of a cookbook

Alice knows what she is talking about it and she gets right too it. The recipes are direct and have some of the most relevant text I've ever seen in a cookbook. She talks about what you need to do, and gives some fabulous instructions on how go about cooking what you want. She lacks a bit of the why you need to do things, but you can read Alton Brown or people like him to find that out.

I especially like the binding. It feels like a real book, in addition to looking like a real book. It isn't plagued with color photographs either, which helps to give it credibility as a legitimate cooking text. Looking at pictures is great if you want to look at pictures, but cooking isn't about looking at nice pictures of food; content about cooking is far more useful than pictures of things that have been cooked.