I really love fried chicken.

During the course of filming 'Top Chef,' I gain 15 lbs., so I'm used to needing two dress sizes.

I don't have any stigma attached to my body. When I'm in my own private space, I have very little on.

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.

Don't use a different dish for every single ingredient. If you've got three ingredients that go in at the same time, put them all in the same plate. That way you have just one plate to dump in.

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

Beauty is no accomplishment on its own. It's what you do with it.