In a lot of ways, a lot of smells that aren't necessarily edible smell good, and they remind you of certain aspects of food. So making those associations with what smells good or smells a certain way and pairing that with actual edible ingredients is one avenue that we take creatively.

I lived my whole life in the kitchen. Not only that, but it's the passion, it's the love for cooking and food. It's dictated my entire life — every aspect of it. So, in some ways, the thought of not being able to do that anymore radically affects your life.

I had D minuses in chemistry and all of the sciences, and now I'm known as a molecular gastronomist.

Food can be expressive and therefore food can be art.

Food is a necessary component to life. People can live without Renoir, Mozart, Gaudi, Beckett, but they cannot live without food.

What makes the food that we do at Alinea so interesting on the outside is that we really don't let ourselves say no to an idea.

It's not really the life of cooking that's hard - it's what you make of it and what level you push yourself to.