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Garden-to-plate gurus enjoy a lunch of school children's labours

Deborah Gough
Deborah Gough

In their element: Stephanie Alexander and Alice Waters at Westgarth Primary School.
In their element: Stephanie Alexander and Alice Waters at Westgarth Primary School.Jason South

American garden-to-plate guru Alice Waters and kindred spirit Stephanie Alexander lived the dream on Monday – sharing a long table with school children who had grown and cooked their own lunch.

"It is my dream that every kid in this world can have this every single day," Ms Waters told the Westgarth Primary School children. Their school is part of the Stephanie Alexander Garden Program.

Ms Waters' own Edible Schoolyard Project in California started in 1995 and has spread to 4000 schools in the United States, but she also has a plan to make schools the link between homes and farmers.

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"I would like to set up a box scheme for the schools so that you have a number of farmers who bring that food to school and they can be guaranteed a certain price for it," Ms Waters said.

"Once they [farmers] have that insurance they can feel secure in that very difficult place of farming in a climate changing world," she said.

"I see schools as the engine for sustainable farming and for nourishing children and bringing them back to their senses," Ms Waters said.

Listed by the New York Times in the top 100 most influential people, Ms Waters is the inventor of Californian Cuisine, an integrated fusion style of cooking using organic ingredients, at her restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.

She is in Melbourne for The Age Good Food Month and is speaking at the Wheeler Centre on Monday night, introduced by Ms Alexander.

Deborah GoughDeborah Gough is a reporter for The Age

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