It was entirely silent and I tried to breathe its peace.

Something had been buried that was not yet dead.

In the 1970s, British food was beginning to get good, whereas in France it was just starting its long, sad decline. My most memorable meals, however, have been in Italy.

There arent many great passages written about food, but I love one by George Millar, who worked for the SOE in the second world war and wrote a book called Horned Pigeon. He had been on the run and hadnt eaten for a week, and his description of the cheese fondue he smells in the peasant kitchen of a house in eastern France is unbelievable.

The function of music is to liberate in the soul those feelings which normally we keep locked up in the heart.

I don't think you ever understand your life - not till it's finished and probably not then either. The more I live the less I seem to understand.

It was entirely silent and I tried to breathe its peace.