Words can hurt you. In the larger world, it frames how people think about you, and it can hurt you in lots of little, subtle ways.

We collectively have a special place in our heart for the manned space flight program - Apollo nostalgia is one element, but that is only part of it. American culture worships explorers - look at the fame of Lewis and Clark, for example. The American people want to think of themselves as supporting exploration.

I've been on a team that won the world championship of barbecue. But barbecue's interesting, because it's one of these cult foods like chili, or bouillabaisse. Various parts of the world will have a cult food that people get enormously attached to - there's tremendous traditions; there's secrecy.

The physics of water is central to cooking, because food is mostly water. All steak that you cook is actually boiled on the inside.

If you talk about sous-vide, then you have to talk about food safety, and microbiology, and heat.

Many of the things the slow food people honor were innovations within historical times. Somebody had to be the first European to eat a tomato.

When I was about nine years old, I announced to my mother that I was going to cook Thanksgiving dinner. And I went to the library and got this whole pile of books. I'd love to say it all turned out great. It didn't. But, sort of, from that point on, whenever there was serious cooking at home, I was the one who did it.