All chefs are like Jewish mothers. They want to feed you and feed you and impress you. It's an eagerness to please.

Whenever I'm in sync with the trends, it's always an accident. I still love wearing clothes I've had for ten years. I think understated luxury is the chicest thing.

From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga, to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first, I came to associate food not only with feminity, but also with purity and divinity.

I really love fried chicken.

People always comment about my clothes. They don't think a fashionable woman can love food and be knowledgeable and actually cook.

I love seafood. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm probably a pescetarian.

Part of my job as a food writer is to describe food. So my work on 'Top Chef,' I feel, is an extension of that. When we give a criticism to the contestant, we want to make sure we tell them why it's not working and why it would work if they did it a different way.