To have a basic ingredient that can be prepared a million different ways is a beautiful thing.

I think Americas food culture is embedded in fast-food culture. And the real question that we have is: How are we going to teach slow-food values in a fast-food world? Of course, its very, very difficult to do, especially when children have grown up eating fast food and the values that go with that.

I really am at a place where I think we need to feed every child at school for free and feed them a real school lunch that's sustainable and nutritious and delicious. It needs to be part of the curriculum of the school in the same way that physical education was part of the curriculum, and all children participated.

It's a comfort to always find pasta in the cupboard and garlic and parsley in the garden.

The dinner table is a rite of civilization and we need to participate in that to keep our families together, to keep our communities together.

Because only slow food can teach us the things that really matter - care, beauty, concentration, discernment, sensuality, all the best that humans are capable of, but only if we take the time to think about what we're eating.

The problem with living in a fast-food nation is that we expect food to be cheap.