Cooking may be a creative art, but it's also a wonderful full-time hobby.

Fake food -- I mean those patented substances chemically flavored and mechanically bulked out to kill the appetite and deceive the gut -- is unnatural, almost immoral, a bane to good eating and good cooking.

I always try to buy just what I need. You get ideas as to what's in season and what's best. I think if you have a preconceived idea before shopping, that makes it difficult. You have to have an open mind.

I was a romantic, messy thinker. I was raised with very conservative beliefs, but that was a long time ago.

It is hard to imagine a civilization without onions.

Because I've done a lot of television, I'm sort of a generalist. I'm not a pastry cook, but I've had to learn a certain amount about it. I'm not a baker, though I've had to learn how to do it. I'm sort of a general cook.

I love root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, and turnips.