![from mother and daughter to friends a memoir from mother and daughter to friends a memoir](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/f/705/135/9781501135705.HO.0.x.jpg)
I am absolutely a writer before I am a cook.
![from mother and daughter to friends a memoir from mother and daughter to friends a memoir](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/W67d45vNTYlvkuz_XcHVWmxiLpY=/506x0/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-bostonglobe.s3.amazonaws.com/public/MZ3GD3EIFMI6HPG7CMV4EMNFB4.jpg)
And now the next thing doesn't need to be tethered to that relationship.ĭid you always envision it as more narrative-driven than chock full of recipes (as in, a full-fledged cookbook)?
![from mother and daughter to friends a memoir from mother and daughter to friends a memoir](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/66/f3/b3/66f3b399cb53e406a37aaf14d4828873--student-teaching-teaching-writing.jpg)
I very quickly understood there was no way for me-as Alice Waters’s daughter-to exist in the public eye without acknowledging and writing that. Rather than feel encumbered by it, how can I talk about all the wonders of this relationship? I didn’t feel confined by it, but it also felt like a necessary way for me to pass through a certain curiosity. So I won’t say there weren’t external forces suggesting gently that I might consider it, and it wasn’t that I woke up one morning and thought this is the book I needed to write, but then it was the only book I could write. I had come off writing the book My Pantry with my mom-and I loved working on that as a collaboration, and the conversations we had-so I was thinking a lot about that relationship when I was asked by my now agent: “If you wanted to write a book, now would be a good time.” I don’t know how many writers have this really specific idea, but for me it was more the powers of suggestion and circumstance. Why were you compelled to share the story of how you grew up as Alice Waters’s daughter now? Your childhood was quite unique, driven in-part by your mother’s craft. Rather than feel encumbered by it, how can I talk about all the wonders of this relationship? I very quickly understood there was no way for me-as Alice Waters’s daughter-to exist in the public eye without acknowledging and writing that.