Alice Waters, the Berkeley restaurateur who pioneered the farm-to-table movement, has partnered with Sweetgreen to create a limited-edition salad that channels her decades-long philosophy about sourcing and seasonality. The peach and goat cheese salad launches across Sweetgreen's locations and directs proceeds to Waters' Edible Schoolyard Project, the nonprofit that builds learning gardens in public schools.
Waters built Chez Panisse on the principle that ingredient quality trumps complexity. She sourced from local farms, celebrated seasonal produce, and refused to compromise on freshness. That ethos shaped American fine dining and influenced how restaurants across the country think about supply chains and sustainability.
Sweetgreen, the fast-casual salad chain with nearly 200 locations, has built its brand around similar values. The brand emphasizes local sourcing, seasonal menus, and transparency about where ingredients come from. The partnership between Waters and Sweetgreen signals how thoroughly farm-to-table principles have moved from high-end restaurants into mainstream casual dining.
The peach and goat cheese salad embodies this shift. Peaches require peak ripeness to shine, which means the salad works only when stone fruit reaches its brief summer window. Goat cheese's tang cuts the fruit's sweetness. This combination appears simple on menus, but executing it requires the sourcing discipline that Waters spent fifty years teaching the industry.
The Edible Schoolyard Project operates in schools from Oakland to New York, teaching students how food grows while building curriculum around gardens and kitchens. Waters founded it in 1995 at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. The program now reaches tens of thousands of students annually, embedding gardening into public education.
By attaching her name to this salad, Waters extends her influence into a generation of diners who may never visit Chez