I've been lucky enough in 20 years in the media to have a nice soap box that put me in a position to describe to an American viewership that Tuscany is different from Umbria, and it's different from Emilia-Romagna and, not that that was news, but it was never presented to them in a way that was, "Hey, look. This is a different plate from that different place." And although we all think of "spaghetti, lasagna, ciao," as what Italy is all about, there's all of this great stuff... I was merely an interpreter. I wasn't the developer of the content.

Protein has been intensely over-represented on the plate. Now, the garden should be the main drag for main courses.

The Hamptons are usually filled with what I had hoped to leave behind in New York City.

My last meal? The food would be much less significant than the company.

Cookbooks have all become baroque and very predictable. I'm looking for something different. A lot of chefs' cookbooks are food as it's done in the restaurants, but they are dumbed down, and I hate it when they dumb them down.

I don't put cream in any pasta noodles ever. I would use a little butter, but I don't ever use cream.

Recipes are just descriptions of one person’s take on one moment in time. They’re not rules.