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Always Home: A Daughter's Recipes & Stories

Foreword by Alice Waters

Introduction by Alice Waters
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A cookbook and culinary memoir about growing up as the daughter of revered chef/restaurateur Alice Waters: a story of food, family, and the need for beauty in all aspects of life.

In this extraordinarily intimate portrait of her mother--and herself--Fanny Singer, daughter of food icon and activist Alice Waters, chronicles a unique world of food, wine, and travel; a world filled with colorful characters, mouth-watering traditions, and sumptuous feasts. Across dozens of vignettes with accompanying recipes, she shares the story of her own culinary coming of age and reveals a side of her legendary mother that has never been seen before. A charming, smart translation of Alice Waters's ideals and attitudes about food for a new generation, Always Home is a loving, often funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely written look at a life defined in so many ways by food, as well as the bond between mother and daughter.
A memoir, if that’s the right word for this body of text, is an unusual undertaking for someone in her mid-thirties. But then,the word memoir isn’t quite the right fit anyway; it suggests something far more comprehensive and, perhaps, chronological, than what follows. This is a collection of stories and remembrances, some less or more fleshed out, some more or less narrative, but no matter their subject or length, their protagonist, their reason for being, is my mother.

My mother has been “famous” for as long as I can remember, though I measured fame not by the visibility of her face in the media or her recognizability on a given city street—or even by the very occa­sional request for an autograph when we were traveling—so much as by her capacity to instantly materialize a table for four at the best, most overbooked restaurants. By all accounts, she was in fact not that well known, and certainly not outside the innermost circle of the food world. This has of course changed in the last twenty-odd years: she’s since been the subject of a biography, a MasterClass, hundreds of arti­cles, and several television shows; and the recipient of more honorary doctorates than I can count, including a National Endowment for the Humanities medal bestowed by President Obama (she was the first chef to receive the honor), as well as copious awards (which far out­number the trophies I amassed over a lengthy soccer career), a couple of knighthoods (France, Italy), and so forth. She is still not someone who gets mobbed out in the open or ever snapped by professional paparazzi, but she is loved by many across the globe.

No matter the country, however, one thing that distinguishes her notoriety is that she is admired, above all else, for her altruism. Which is to say, she is adored not as an actor might be, for a tour de force in which she plays a character, but for being emphatically, truly herself. And with such a degree of determination that even her moral inflex­ibility has become one of the defining features of her fame. This must be the best type of celebrity to have attained: invisibility to all but those who worship you for your actions (and the occasional detractor who feels compelled to join the small chorus of contrarians).

Still, I didn’t think to write this book because my mother is famous. Rather I wanted to write it in spite of her fame. Even though there is considerable parity between her public and private personas, there still is a part of her more private self—which is to say, her family self—that makes the picture bigger, that amplifies the image. I don’t have an expository story to tell, but I have had the experience of being the only person on this planet who is her child.
“You will probably pick up this book because you’re curious about how it feels to grow up with Alice Waters as your mother. But you will inevitably be captivated by Fanny Singer’s sensuous voice and sensible soul. The writing’s lovely, but more than that, Fanny has struck a kind of brutal honesty that is extremely rare and completely beautiful. Her writing makes you want to taste every flavor she describes, and soon you’ll be dashing into the kitchen to make watercress soup, wild fennel cakes, and breakfast pudding. But the really important thing is that I’m pretty sure everyone who reads it will come away with the same feeling that I have: Why don’t I live my life like this? How can I do better? I love this book.” —RUTH REICHL, author of Save Me the Plums

“A charming and unique almost–love story, almost-memoir, with predictably fabulous recipes.”—MARK BITTMAN, author of How to Cook Everything

“To read Fanny Singer’s intimate and honest memoir is like having a mouthful of jewels. After fourteen years of cooking with her and her mother, Alice Waters, I got to know her even better through her perfect book. Singer’s writing reminds me about everything important to me in life, the four f ’s: friends, food, family, and fun.”—CLAIRE PTAK, owner of Violet Bakery in London and author of The Violet Bakery Cookbook

“Fanny Singer’s joyful, witty, and loving encounter with American genius inside the home and in the world heralds the arrival of a new voice, one that understands the pleasure to be found in discovery, and the ever evolving mystery embedded in the known. A book like no other, an instant classic.”—HILTON ALS, staff writer, The New Yorker

“Singer’s memoir, Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories, is a tender portrait of the woman better known to the world as the mother of the farm-to-table movement.” CHLOE MALLE, Vogue, “The 5 Best Books of 2020 (So Far)”

“In this wondrous memoir-cookbook hybrid . . . Singer’s language is read-out-loud luscious, and her culinary coming-of-age story savory and sweet.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
 
“This heartwarming, feel-good, highly recommended memoir will appeal to fans of cooking, culinary travels, and family ties.” —Library Journal
 
“Singer’s charming narrative, interwoven with Lacombe’s painterly black-and-white photographs, bursts with sensuous descriptions of tastes, fragrances, and textures as she recounts her “very rich and full and just a little bit unconventional” young life . . . . An intimate homage to an iconic restaurateur.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Singer tells her own tale and that of her influential mother, tying the two together with their love of food and knack for powerful storytelling.” Town & Country (“6 Best Books to Read This March”)

"Fanny Singer’s book about growing up with celeb chef and food activist Alice Waters—her mom—is a refreshing reprieve from sad tales of famous family life. It’s an intimate look at how a woman at the top of her culinary game has kept a close, collaborative relationship with her daughter."Chatelaine (“11 Books We Can't Wait To Read This Spring”)
© Brigitte Lacombe
FANNY SINGER is a writer, editor, and co-founder of the design brand, Permanent Collection. In 2013, she received a Ph.D. on the subject of the British pop artist Richard Hamilton's late work from the University of Cambridge. In 2015, she and her mother, Alice Waters, published My Pantry, which she also illustrated. Having spent more than a decade living in the United Kingdom, Fanny recently moved back to her native California. Based in San Francisco, she travels widely, contributing art reviews and culture writing to a number of publications including Frieze, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Apartamento, T Magazine, and Art Papers, among others. View titles by Fanny Singer

About

A cookbook and culinary memoir about growing up as the daughter of revered chef/restaurateur Alice Waters: a story of food, family, and the need for beauty in all aspects of life.

In this extraordinarily intimate portrait of her mother--and herself--Fanny Singer, daughter of food icon and activist Alice Waters, chronicles a unique world of food, wine, and travel; a world filled with colorful characters, mouth-watering traditions, and sumptuous feasts. Across dozens of vignettes with accompanying recipes, she shares the story of her own culinary coming of age and reveals a side of her legendary mother that has never been seen before. A charming, smart translation of Alice Waters's ideals and attitudes about food for a new generation, Always Home is a loving, often funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely written look at a life defined in so many ways by food, as well as the bond between mother and daughter.

Excerpt

A memoir, if that’s the right word for this body of text, is an unusual undertaking for someone in her mid-thirties. But then,the word memoir isn’t quite the right fit anyway; it suggests something far more comprehensive and, perhaps, chronological, than what follows. This is a collection of stories and remembrances, some less or more fleshed out, some more or less narrative, but no matter their subject or length, their protagonist, their reason for being, is my mother.

My mother has been “famous” for as long as I can remember, though I measured fame not by the visibility of her face in the media or her recognizability on a given city street—or even by the very occa­sional request for an autograph when we were traveling—so much as by her capacity to instantly materialize a table for four at the best, most overbooked restaurants. By all accounts, she was in fact not that well known, and certainly not outside the innermost circle of the food world. This has of course changed in the last twenty-odd years: she’s since been the subject of a biography, a MasterClass, hundreds of arti­cles, and several television shows; and the recipient of more honorary doctorates than I can count, including a National Endowment for the Humanities medal bestowed by President Obama (she was the first chef to receive the honor), as well as copious awards (which far out­number the trophies I amassed over a lengthy soccer career), a couple of knighthoods (France, Italy), and so forth. She is still not someone who gets mobbed out in the open or ever snapped by professional paparazzi, but she is loved by many across the globe.

No matter the country, however, one thing that distinguishes her notoriety is that she is admired, above all else, for her altruism. Which is to say, she is adored not as an actor might be, for a tour de force in which she plays a character, but for being emphatically, truly herself. And with such a degree of determination that even her moral inflex­ibility has become one of the defining features of her fame. This must be the best type of celebrity to have attained: invisibility to all but those who worship you for your actions (and the occasional detractor who feels compelled to join the small chorus of contrarians).

Still, I didn’t think to write this book because my mother is famous. Rather I wanted to write it in spite of her fame. Even though there is considerable parity between her public and private personas, there still is a part of her more private self—which is to say, her family self—that makes the picture bigger, that amplifies the image. I don’t have an expository story to tell, but I have had the experience of being the only person on this planet who is her child.

Reviews

“You will probably pick up this book because you’re curious about how it feels to grow up with Alice Waters as your mother. But you will inevitably be captivated by Fanny Singer’s sensuous voice and sensible soul. The writing’s lovely, but more than that, Fanny has struck a kind of brutal honesty that is extremely rare and completely beautiful. Her writing makes you want to taste every flavor she describes, and soon you’ll be dashing into the kitchen to make watercress soup, wild fennel cakes, and breakfast pudding. But the really important thing is that I’m pretty sure everyone who reads it will come away with the same feeling that I have: Why don’t I live my life like this? How can I do better? I love this book.” —RUTH REICHL, author of Save Me the Plums

“A charming and unique almost–love story, almost-memoir, with predictably fabulous recipes.”—MARK BITTMAN, author of How to Cook Everything

“To read Fanny Singer’s intimate and honest memoir is like having a mouthful of jewels. After fourteen years of cooking with her and her mother, Alice Waters, I got to know her even better through her perfect book. Singer’s writing reminds me about everything important to me in life, the four f ’s: friends, food, family, and fun.”—CLAIRE PTAK, owner of Violet Bakery in London and author of The Violet Bakery Cookbook

“Fanny Singer’s joyful, witty, and loving encounter with American genius inside the home and in the world heralds the arrival of a new voice, one that understands the pleasure to be found in discovery, and the ever evolving mystery embedded in the known. A book like no other, an instant classic.”—HILTON ALS, staff writer, The New Yorker

“Singer’s memoir, Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories, is a tender portrait of the woman better known to the world as the mother of the farm-to-table movement.” CHLOE MALLE, Vogue, “The 5 Best Books of 2020 (So Far)”

“In this wondrous memoir-cookbook hybrid . . . Singer’s language is read-out-loud luscious, and her culinary coming-of-age story savory and sweet.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
 
“This heartwarming, feel-good, highly recommended memoir will appeal to fans of cooking, culinary travels, and family ties.” —Library Journal
 
“Singer’s charming narrative, interwoven with Lacombe’s painterly black-and-white photographs, bursts with sensuous descriptions of tastes, fragrances, and textures as she recounts her “very rich and full and just a little bit unconventional” young life . . . . An intimate homage to an iconic restaurateur.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Singer tells her own tale and that of her influential mother, tying the two together with their love of food and knack for powerful storytelling.” Town & Country (“6 Best Books to Read This March”)

"Fanny Singer’s book about growing up with celeb chef and food activist Alice Waters—her mom—is a refreshing reprieve from sad tales of famous family life. It’s an intimate look at how a woman at the top of her culinary game has kept a close, collaborative relationship with her daughter."Chatelaine (“11 Books We Can't Wait To Read This Spring”)

Author

© Brigitte Lacombe
FANNY SINGER is a writer, editor, and co-founder of the design brand, Permanent Collection. In 2013, she received a Ph.D. on the subject of the British pop artist Richard Hamilton's late work from the University of Cambridge. In 2015, she and her mother, Alice Waters, published My Pantry, which she also illustrated. Having spent more than a decade living in the United Kingdom, Fanny recently moved back to her native California. Based in San Francisco, she travels widely, contributing art reviews and culture writing to a number of publications including Frieze, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Apartamento, T Magazine, and Art Papers, among others. View titles by Fanny Singer