Imagine a school cafeteria where the food is organically grown, harvested, and prepared by its own students. In 1994, Alice Waters, proprietor and chef of the celebrated Chez Panisse, in partnership with the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, turned a vacant lot in Berkeley, California, into the Edible Schoolyard.

The Edible Schoolyard's organic garden is wholly integrated into the school's lunch program and curriculum. The project teaches students the importance of nutrition, community responsibility, and environmental stewardship.

For more than 25 years, Alice's revolutionary approach to food has championed the proliferation of organic, environmentally sound agriculture throughout the country. The philosophy of the Edible Schoolyard goes back to Thomas Jefferson's notion that the United States is a nation of farmers and that farms represent a community's core.

Special Thanks
Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.