Chez Panisse Foundation

The Chez Panisse Foundation was founded by celebrity chef and natural foods advocate Alice Waters. According to its website it "envisions a public school curriculum that includes hands-on experiences in school kitchens, gardens, and lunchrooms, and that provides healthy, freshly prepared meals as part of each school day. ...  Over the past ten years, we have worked to establish groundbreaking models in the Berkeley Unified School District: the Edible Schoolyard and the School Lunch Initiative. According to Alice Waters' biographer Thomas McNamee, Chez Panisse "is a standard-bearer for a system of moral values. It is the leader of a style of cooking, of a social movement, and of a comprehensive philosophy of doing good and living well."  In March, 2010, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse Foundation declined to oppose growing food in toxic sewage sludge.

Sewage Industry Gives an 'Award' to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse Foundation
The major sewage sludge industry front group, US Composting Council, gave Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse Foundation an 'award' in January, 2011. "The H. Clark Gregory Award to Promote Grassroots Efforts in Composting" was awarded to Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Foundation and their Edible Schoolyard program which promotes children growing food from their own gardens. The award is given each year to an individual who has displayed outstanding service." The USCC also sponsors International Compost Awareness Week to promote sewage sludge "compost," and works closely with its members BioCycle magazine, Synagro, Water Environment Federation and other lobbyists for growing food in sewage sludge.

Chez Sludge
The Food Rights Network released a major investigative report on July 9, 2010 titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. It examines collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)

Foundation Mired in 'Sewage Sludge on Gardens'
In 2009 and 2010 a major controversy erupted in San Francisco involving Chez Panisse Foundation Executive Director Francesca Vietor when the Center for Food Safety (upon whose Advisory Board sits Alice Waters) and the Organic Consumers Association called on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, of which Vietor is Vice President, to end its give-away of toxic sewage sludge as 'organic compost' for gardeners. In advance of the OCA's March 4 sludge protest at City Hall, the SFPUC temporarily halted the give-away.

The misleading labeled "organic compost," which the PUC has given away free to gardeners since 2007, is composed of toxic sewage sludge from San Francisco and eight other counties. Very little toxicity testing has been done, but what little has been done is alarming. Just the sludge from San Francisco alone has tested positive for 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (a.k.a. DBCP), Isopropyltoluene (a.k.a. p-cymene or p-isopropyltoluene), Dioxins and Furans.

The Organic Consumers Association conducted a noon hour picket of Chez Panisse April 1, 2010, after Alice Waters refused a request to oppose growing food in sewage sludge. The industry front group ACSH is now making Alice Waters a poster-child for toxic sewage sludge.

Chez Panisse Seeks to Grow Its Investment Account
In June, 2010, the Chez Panisse Foundation advertised for a Development Director to work "closely with CPF Board, staff, and Alice Waters to design and implement an effective fundraising campaign each year -- to meet not only the annual operating budget of approximately $1.2 million, but to continue to grow CPF’s investment account to support CPF going forward."

Chez Panisse Foundation Tax Filings, Annual Reports

 * Description, 990s, Annual Reports, etc.

Administrative Staff

 * Francesca Vietor, Executive Director
 * David Prior, Director of Communications
 * Carolyn Federman, Director of Development
 * Rebecca Womack, Foundation and Grants Coordinator

The Edible Schoolyard Staff

 * Esther Cook, Chef Teacher
 * Benjamin Eichorn, Assistant Garden Teacher
 * Marsha Guerrero, Director
 * Sasha Harris-Lovett, AmeriCorps Member
 * Wendy Johnson, Garden Consultant
 * Joyce Lin-Conrad, Assistant Chef Teacher
 * Jonah Mossberg, Apprentice Garden Teacher
 * Geoff Palla, Garden Manager and Teacher
 * Shaina Robbins, Program Coordinator

Board of Directors

 * Alice Waters "is founder of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, and President of the Chez Panisse Foundation." Alice Waters Muckety map


 * Susan Andrews "serves on the Board of Directors of several Northern California private elementary schools, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Eva Leah Gunther Foundation."


 * Mark Buell, "a renowned political activist, serves on the Boards of Directors of San Francisco Conservation Corps and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Mark is Board Chairman of the Chez Panisse Foundation. Mark Buell Muckety Map.


 * Katrina Heron "is a writer, editor, and independent book-packager. She has been Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, and a senior editor at the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine."  Katrin Heron Muckety map


 * Sherry Hirota "is Chief Executive Officer of Asian Health Services (AHS), in Oakland, CA. She was a member of the California Endowment’s Board of Directors for ten years, and is an appointed member of the Advisory Committee on Research on Minority Health."


 * Christina Kim "is the founder and owner of dosa, a fashion house in Los Angeles, California, where artisanal textiles are recycled into sophisticated, contemporary clothing and housewares."


 * Martin Krasney "is a Trustee of Marin Country Day School, a Trustee of the Urban School in San Francisco, and the Treasurer of the Compton Foundation." Martin Krasney Muckety Map


 * John Lyons is the President of Production at Focus Features, and an advocate for Edible Schoolyard programs in New York City.


 * Sally Wilcox is a literary agent at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles, President of the Board of 826LA, and serves on the National Advisory Board of 826National.

2001 - 2008

 * Alan Liddle, Waters turns aggressive fund-raiser as Chez Panisse turns 30 Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 17, 2001.
 * Laurie Bennett, Alice Waters, food fighter, Muckety website, January 21, 2008.
 * John McCormick, Michelle Obama, Alice Waters talk food, Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2008.
 * Alice Waters, Heroes of the Environment 2008, Time magazine, September 24, 2008.

2009

 * A. James Memmott, Alice Waters urges investment in school lunches, Muckety website, February 23, 2009
 * CFS Petitions San Francisco Mayor to Stop Giving Away Poison Compost to Public, Center for Food Safety Website, September 23, 2009.
 * Heather Knight, Nonprofit calls PUC's compost toxic sludge, San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 2009.
 * Charlie Amter, Alice Waters renews call for White House organic garden on '60 Mintues' segment Sunday, LA Times, March 16, 2009
 * Josh Harkinson, Did Sewage Sludge Lace the White House Veggie Garden With Lead?, Mother Jones, June 17, 2009.
 * Barry Estabrook, Sludge Fest: Center for Food Safety vs. San Francisco. It’s a battle that may be coming soon to a city near you, Politics of the Plate, November 30, 2009.
 * Barry Estabrook, Free Compost--Or Toxic Sludge?, The Atlantic, December 1, 2009.
 * Sajid Farooq, Alice Waters' Toxic Nightmare Bares the White House Fruit, San Francisco NBC, Dec 17, 2009.

February-March, 2010

 * Catherine Bigelow, And across the bay, Francesca Vietor is the new executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, Social City, SFGate February 7, 2010.
 * Josh Harkinson, |+The+Blue+Marble%29&utm_content=Twitter A Backlash After San Francisco Labels Sewage Sludge Organic, Mother Jones magazine, March 4, 2010.
 * Photo Gallery: Activists Praise Poop, Deliver Dirt to Mayor's Office, SF Appeal, March 4, 2010.
 * Evelyn Nieves, Claim: San Francisco giving gardeners toxic sludge, Associated Press in the Boston Globe, March 5, 2010.
 * John Upton, The City’s free compost causes stink SF Examiner, March 5, 2010.
 * Anna Werner, Concern Over SF Compost Made from Sewage Sludge, CBS Channel 5, March 3, 2010.
 * Chris Roberts, News Farmers Call PUC's Shit, Will Dump it on City Hall Today, San Francisco Appeal, March 4, 2010.
 * What SF calls compost, activists call 'toxic sludge, San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO TV, March 4, 2010.
 * Jill Richardson, Food Sunday: Toxic Sludge as 'Organic Fertilizer', FireDogLake, March 7, 2010.
 * John Stauber, Waiter, There Is Toxic Sludge in my Organic Soup!, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2010.
 * Brady Welch, Shit show: What has the SFPUC has been dumping in city gardens?, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 23, 2010.
 * Organic Consumers Association, The Organic Consumers Association To Picket Chez Panisse Restaurant on Thursday, April 1st, Noon, in Berkeley, CA Alice Waters, World Famous Organic Food Chef and Promoter of Safe School Gardens, Does Not Oppose Growing Food on Toxic Sewage Sludge, News Release, March 31, 2010.
 * John Stauber, Chef Alice Waters and Chez Panisse the Targets of a Toxic Sludge Protest, PRWatch.org, March 31, 2010.
 * Brady Welch, Alice Waters protested for supporting using human waste as compost San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 31, 2010.

April, 2010

 * Suzanne Goldenberg, US chef Alice Waters criticised over sewage fertiliser: Top US healthy-eating chef Alice Waters attacked for supporting fertiliser made of sewage that activists say contains toxins, UK Guardian, April 1, 2010.
 * Anna Werner, Activists Target Alice Waters On Sewage Sludge, KCBS Channel 5, San Francisco, April 1, 2010.
 * Tracey Taylor, Toxic sludge demonstrators picket Chez Panisse, April 1, 2010.
 * Raymond Barglow, Organic Consumers Association Pickets Chez Panisse, The Berkeley Daily Planet, April 1, 2010.
 * John Birdsall, Alice Waters Demands Apology from Sewage Sludge Protestors, SF Weekly, April 1, 2010.
 * Peter Fimrite, Groups make stink over S.F. 'biosolid' compost, SF Chronicle, April 7, 2010.
 * Brady Welch, The Shit Show's Extended Run SF Bay Guardian, April 7, 2010.
 * Jill Richardson, Francesca Takes Legal Action over Sludge Article, La Vida Locavore blog, April 7, 2010.
 * Jill Richardson, What San Francisco Found in Their Own Sludge, La Vida Locavore blog, April 8, 2010.
 * Leora Broydo Vestel, Food Groups Clash Over Compost Sludge, New York Times Green Inc. blog, April 9 2010.
 * Jill Richardson, Oh Alice, Don't Let Them Do This To You, Lavidalocavore blog, Apr 12, 2010.
 * John Stauber, ACSH Makes Alice Waters a Poster Child for Toxic Sludge, PRWatch.org, April 12, 2010.
 * Susan Galleymore, The Green Mayor Has Toxic Sludge on His Hands, Op-Ed News, April 25, 2010.

May, 2010

 * Barry Estabrook, Composted Sewage Stirs Up Bay Area Food Fight, The Atlantic, May 3, 2010.

Muckety Site Showing Relationships for Chez Panisse
The Muckety Map below shows the network of individuals related to the Chez Panisse Foundation.
 * Chez Panisse Foundation

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Alice Waters
 * Francesca Vietor
 * biosolids
 * San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
 * Food Rights Network
 * OCA, Alice Waters, Exchange on Toxic Sewage Sludge, March, 2010