If I'm training I'm cutting weight for a competition. I'm hard. I'm pretty much eating animal protein and that's it. No rice, no beans, certainly no sweets.

I'm really happy to see Filipino cuisine starting to really take hold outside of the Pinoy community.

Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don't have.

At the end of a dinner at my house, my kitchen sink is filled with dishes and there's nothing pretty about the garbage.

As you move through this life...you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you.

Bad food is made without pride, by cooks who have no pride, and no love. Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent, or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone. Bad food is fake food, food that shows fear and lack of confidence in people's ability to discern or to make decisions about their lives.

We now have a generation of people who in many cases feel that if they become chefs, they'll get a TV show. They have a signature haircut, a year into the business, or a branding arrangement with a shoe company. I don't really relate to that. I guess this is the world we live in now.