As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up there so they could make something edible.

I put hibiscus flower in every cup of tea I have. It's sweet, sexy, and cleansing.

Food is "everyday"-it has to be, or we would not survive for long. But food is never just something to eat. It is something to find or hunt or cultivate first of all.

I can teach a chimp how to make linguini and clams. I can't teach a chimp to dream about it and think about how great it is.

Twelve-piece cookware sets for ninety-nine bucks are routinely hawked on late-night TV - often by friends of mine. But with a mere five pieces, you can do whatever you like - slay the dragon and then cook its tenderloin in the style of the duke of Wellington, if you want to.

Food, like most things, is best when left to its own simple beauty.

Find something you love, because if you love what you do, you'll never spend a day at work.