I think the most important thing when you are in a competition and you have, let's say, ingredients you have to use make something you did already because none of the judges, you know, probably had it in our lifetime, so I think do something you feel confident with, not something completely new where you are not sure how many hours or how many minutes you have to cook it or if the seasoning is right or if the combinations of spices and herbs are right.

Television in the '80s was very limited. There was no Food Network.

I want to help build their basic food terminology.

Only you can judge your life. You have to live up to your own expectations.

I used to write cookbooks. It was passion to try to bring healthy and fun recipes to people's homes. It was a way to bring my home to theirs.

A lot of chefs are traditional and do it very well. But the ones who are the most successful are the ones who change things. That is why someone like Heston Blumenthal is a genius.

I grew up so poor in Austria that we never took a vacation with my family.