The book is there for inspiration and as a foundation, the fundamentals on which to build.

When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.

A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.

I think that's the important thing - being aware of that inspiration and being able to interpret it into something that's meaningful for you.

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.

Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.

When I go out to eat, it's usually something moderate in style.