The journey is part of the experience - an expression of the seriousness of one's intent. One doesn't take the A train to Mecca.

My family is very far from normal.

I'm sure one of the frustrations of being a Western enthusiast of Japanese food and culture is you're confronted every day with the absolute certainty that you will die ignorant.

For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous.

Good food and good eating are about risk.

You realize after you travel enough that there's some things that, no matter how good you are at making television, no matter how good your cameras are, how well it's edited, there's no way the lenses could have captured the moment, and there's no way you will ever be able to write about it and do it justice.

As Americans, we tend to look at Mexican food as nachos, which is not Mexican food really - they don't eat them.