As a character Alice is very well written. She grew up permanently eclipsed by Erina, so she left Japan and tried to make a name for herself elsewhere. Combining never really experiencing warmth even in her own home ("Oh, is Erina-chan around? Oh, is Erina-sama and her god tongue nearby?") to being a foreigner where she fled to try and make a name for herself, she just never understood the same thing that Souma got from his surrogate Grandmother.

Alice's lack of home stability gave her a flighty, flamboyant attitude, even though it also drove her to learn extreme, cutting-edge cooking techniques that stand out a lot.

That same childhood also made her forge her own little family. Not so much that she wanted to copy Erina with her subordinates.