In the 1970s we got nouvelle cuisine, in which a lot of the old rules were kicked over. And then we had cuisine minceur, which people mixed up with nouvelle cuisine but was actually fancy diet cooking.

In the 1960s, you could eat anything you wanted, and of course, people were smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things, and there was no talk about fat and anything like that, and butter and cream were rife. Those were lovely days for gastronomy, I must say.

If you're not ready to fail, you're not going to learn how to cook.

...the waiters carried themselves with a quiet joy, as if their entire mission in life was to make their customers feel comfortable and well tended.

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.

You have to eat to cook. You can't be a good cook and be a noneater. I think eating is the secret to good cooking.

The dinner hour is a sacred, happy time when everyone should be together and relaxed.