Fred Melamed Quotes

Most of us have fond memories of food from our childhood. Whether it was our mom's homemade lasagna or a memorable chocolate birthday cake, food has a way of transporting us back to the past.

I like to cook Puerto Rican food. That's what I grew up on: rice, beans, meat, some Italian-American food. I know my way around the kitchen.

I learned to cook from my mom. Most of what I ate growing up was Italian cooking.

My mom's collard greens. No one else in the world can make them like hers. I'm not just saying that because she's my mom. She's got some Mississippi secret. I could seriously eat them every day.

In terms of foods for me, I think I have more of the usual associations - foods from childhood that I associate with care and love, from relatives or special restaurants like the kind elderly man who dusted seasoning salt on French fries at the corner burger joint.

I am very precise about what food I like. I'm very much a nursery-food person, and really hate chichi dishes.

Most of our traditions revolved around the kitchen, and the thing that stands out to me is my mom makes Turducken. Most people think it's some kind of great myth in the world, but my mom makes it.

I'm from South Georgia, so my mom, she always cooked some dang good food when I was growing up.

I can't resist South Indian cuisine, particularly what is prepared at home. My mom is my favourite cook. She can cook a variety of cuisines. I savour her cooking at home, and she's undoubtedly the best.

When I was growing up, my grandmother cooked every day. She is the best chef ever.

I'm not the number-one fan of the heavy holiday meal. And also, I didn't grow up eating them, the traditional Western holiday meals, so it's just not something I have a nostalgic relationship to.

I had never cooked. I had never wanted any other food that wasn't from my mum. Her food is special.

Holiday food is rich and indulgent. Going-home-to-see-family food is richer and even more indulgent.

Some of the best dishes I can remember are from my childhood. Sometimes, whenever I want to feel like a kid again, I just whip them up for the family.

Food is a way to explore culture and ground the story in a specific time and place. I still remember the meals and snacks from my first novel, 'Shug': pork chops and applesauce and Coca-Cola and peanuts, which are very Southern. When a character has roots elsewhere, food is a way to connect with home and another culture.

Growing up, I loved looking at the photos in my mother's old Betty Crocker cookbook: the chocolate cakes, the cookie house, even the cheese balls and fondues.

My mom used to make delicious aloo ke parathe, and would give me two for school lunch.

I grew up eating chicken and dumplings in my grandma's kitchen.

My maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn't much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked).

Getting home-made food cooked by mom is a blessing. I feel I inherit my creativity through the food she cooks for me.

My favourite dish is from Congo, the native country of my father. It's called Poulet a la Dakatine and is made from chicken, peanut butter and spinach.

It's great to come home always... coming home to good south Indian meals or Andhra food is always a pleasure.

I like simple home-cooked food.

A lot of my recipes I take from foods my grandmother used to cook, things she prepared for family reunions.

My mom, she cooks the best pound cakes in the world.