Back to the Future
I CAN’T RECALL EXACTLY WHAT GOT ME interested in the year 1971. It might have started with a sliver: Half a century is, after all, a natural inflection point. What I do know is that the discoveries that the razor-sharp Bon Appétit team and I made about the year provoked a lot of discussion and engendered the question, “Is 1971 the year that changed everything culinarily? If you’ve seen the terrific documentary The Black Godfather, you’ll remember a graphic that shows the endless sway of music executive Clarence Avant. He influenced multiple generations of artists, who then went on to influence subsequent generations. The reporting of Elyse Inamine likewise shows the enormous reach of Alice Waters, who opened her trailblazing restaurant, Chez Panisse, in 1971. When I wrote my book about…