Physically he was the connoisseur's connoisseur. He was a giant panda, Santa Claus and the Jolly Green Giant rolled into one. On him, a lean and slender physique would have looked like very bad casting.

When she goes about her kitchen duties, chopping, carving, mixing, whisking, she moves with the grace and precision of a ballet dancer, her fingers plying the food with the dexterity of a croupier.

Almost every profession has an outstanding training ground. The military has West Point, music has Juilliard, and the culinary arts has The Institute.

He was an innovator, an experimenter, a missionary in bringing the gospel of good cooking to the home table.

Give me a platter of choice finnan haddie, freshly cooked in its bath of water and milk, add melted butter, a slice or two of hot toast, a pot of steaming Darjeeling tea, and you may tell the butler to dispense with the caviar, truffles and nightingales' tongues.

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.

Cooking is at once one of the simplest and most gratifying of the arts, but to cook well one must love and respect food.