Alice Waters Slams Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook

For the final round of Food52's annual cookbook competition The Piglet, the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook faced off against the tome from popular Montreal restaurant Joe Beef, and final round judge Alice 'I Cook Everything Over an Open Hearth' Waters wasn't pleased with either option. Milk Bar sells crack pies, Joe Beef, Smoked Cheddar with Doughnuts, and both "contribute to feeding our addiction to sugar and fat." That said, at least the Joe Beef guys have a vegetable garden. Milk Bar offers no saving graces for the organic cooking evangelist:

...it seems that they don't have real ingredients in their pantry. I understand the creative appeal of turning something bad into something surprising but I can't support the choice of highly processed ingredients when fresh and organic ones are increasingly so readily available. Across the board the Milk Bar recipes are too rich, too sweet, and just too intense for me.