Alice in Paris, A Machine to Draw the World, Christmas Journal 4 Summary and Analysis

"Alice in Paris" was about the visit to Paris of Berkeley chef Alice Waters, who strolled through an outdoor produce market with Gopnik and agricultural scientist Antoine Jacobsohn. In the presence of the vegetables, both Gopnik's companions were very excited. Alice had been asked to open a restaurant at the Louvre, and Antoine was potentially her "principal forager" to gather foodstuffs for the restaurant. They were delighted by the freshness of the produce, but Alice was dismayed by its lack of variety. Antoine explained that the small grower was left out when the market moved from a location it had occupied for centuries, which he thought damaged the culture of cuisine in Paris. They spoke to a vendor about asparagus, and...