...for me there is too little of life to spend most of it forcing myself into detachment from it.

An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life.

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.

Brioches are a light, pale yellow, faintly sweet kind of muffin with a characteristic blob on top, rather like a mushroom just pushing crookedly through the ground. Once eaten in Paris, they never taste as good anywhere else.

In America we eat, collectively, with a glum urge for food to fill us. We are ignorant of flavour. We are as a nation taste-blind.

It is hard and perhaps impossible for many people to recognize the difference between innocence and naiveté.

Dining partners, regardless of gender, social standing, or the years they've lived, should be chosen for their ability to eat - and drink! - with the right mixture of abandon and restraint. They should enjoy food, and look upon its preparation and its degustation as one of the human arts.