Passionfish's Cindy Walter Accepts Visionary Award, Issues Challenge to Audience

What was revolutionary to many was ordinary to Cindy Walter. Simple. Common sense. 

A wild garden instead of a manicured lawn? Only way her mother and grandma—both with full Native blood flowing in their veins—would have it. 

Sustainably sourced seafood? Better believe it. Her pole-only fisherman father would disown her if she shopped with the trawlers that threatened his well-being by destroying the local sea floor.

Homemade all natural cleaning products? Duh—why would she buy shampoo and toothpaste when baking soda had always worked just fine?

The sun-kissed proceeding at yesterday's Democratic Women of Monterey County's fifth annual Feast for Sustainable Change at a private home in Carmel Valley—which honored her with the 2013 Visionary Leadership Award—served as a reminder that just listening to Walter talk about her life is a call to action.

Since helping her star chef husband and constant co-collaborator Ted Walter launch the now-flourishing Passionfish (655-3311), she not only has earned a boatload of awards from the likes of Bon Appetit, the California State Assembly and the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary for pioneering smart seafood habits, she has continued to make her and her family's own lotions, detergents, cleaning agents and beauty products. And rescue a litter of homeless cats. And keep bees.

I wrote about her unique brand of homespun inspiration in 2011 with a piece called "Passion Project," in advance of a great dinner to benefit the heroic work of Tag-a-Giant bluefin tuna researchers. (As scary ocean well-being updates remind us, fish and fish-lovers need all the help they can get.) 

And I couldn't resist sharing her resourceful recipes for all-natural cleaning products, like furniture polish.

While I'm neither Democratic (registered Independent) nor female, I'm a big fan of the way the DWOMC has chosen to celebrate local leaders—via food.

Eating, after all—as it connects to economic well-being and social justice and affects labor, land, equality and health—is a political and a humanitarian act. Last year it was award-winner Tanja Roos and student garden-kitchen empowerment in the spotlight; I'll look eagerly for whom they honor next year. 

The best part of the afternoon wasn't the fish tacos and sweet potato mole from the team at Jeffrey's Grill and Catering (624-2029), the Carmel Valley Chardonnay from Stone Arch or the jokes from longtime local lawman John Laird ("[Rep.] Sam [Farr] would be here but he's being held hostage by terrorists in Washington").

It was Walter's second visit to the mic.  

One the first visit she was thankful and funny, saying "I am humbled by this, with so many people here who have affected my life and continue to affect it..." and later adding back in the day she'd have to drive with her Kia's windows down to cut the smell of the sustainable fish in her trunk. 

She had a challenge for the audience. 

Her staff came up with something almost impossible to do that's devoutly eco-conscious. (If the next generation of restaurant leaders launching their own initiatives, unprompted, isn't sustainable, I don't know what is.)

That challenge: To go 30 days without plastic. Her staff just completed it.

Walter dared the audience of progressives to try it themselves. We'll see if they put their plastic forks where their mouths are.

Those results remain uncertain at the moment. What is certain: We'll need more leadership like the Passionfish staff's—built partly upon leadership like Walter's—if we want to honor the seven-generations-ahead ethic she embodies.