Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.

I just do the best I can and write something interesting, to tell stories in an interesting way and move forward from there.

A good, stinky French cheese or a good Stilton. These are things I really, really love. Dessert I can obviously live without.

Being a vegan is a first-world phenomenon, completely self-indulgent.

I'm excited by any food that's prepared by someone who's proud of what they're doing, who puts a personal imprint on food.

All of these concoctions that we think are Mexican, are in no way reflective of the deep, incredibly old, complex and sophisticated deep regional cuisine of Mexico. Or the new modern Mexican cuisine, which has really been exploding over the last few years. I think we just have a completely misrepresented view of how good, how complex these flavors are. I think we could learn a lot more. It's a great cuisine that's really moving forward, faster than any other.

The bible of cooking. The all-time argument ender. Early in my cooking career, I wielded my Larousse like a weapon and it never let me down.