I had a fierce curiosity about this food thing.

Anything made with love, bam! -it's a beautiful meal.

I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school.

My food is Louisiana, New Orleans-based, well-seasoned, rustic. I think it's pretty unique because of my background being influenced by my mom, Portuguese and French Canadian. There's a lot going on there.

I launched The Emeril Lagasse Foundation to provide culinary training, and developmental and educational programs to children in the cities where my restaurants operate. I think everyone has a responsibility to give back to the community if they can, and to help future generations learn new skills.

Life just doesn't hand you things. You have to get out there and make things happen. that's the exciting part.

Home base is the support system where we have a culinary team, my own writers because of the shows and the books and stuff, we have a culinary team of about six people. Marketing, public relations, accounting and all that sort of stuff.