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.

If any chef ever tells you they're not inspired equally by the truck-stop barbecue as they are by the four-star Michelin restaurant they are lying.

I was the first Indian model to have a career in Paris, Milan and New York. I am the first one to admit I was a novelty.

Each city has its own culinary landscape.

I'm an immigrant kid who came to America from India when I was very young and grew up in New York City with a single mom and really was influenced by all of those immigrant cultures bumping up against each other.

Wine, like food, is so emotional. If you think about it, so much of the courting ritual is surrounded by wine and food. There's a built-in romance to wine.

I have a great career, and I have my daughter. Sio what I don't have is not as important to as what I do have.