Culinary Exploration Quotes

You don't see very many Irish-Cypriot pop-up restaurants kicking about!

I love to cook, and I've just gotten more and more into it over the years, just because it's the best way to stay creative.

Hopefully people will be inspired to cook. It's my mission to persuade people not to be afraid of cooking.

I have an insatiable palate. I'll try anything once, with an open mind. However, there is a special place in my heart for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Don't get me wrong, I've sampled specialty Mac & Cheese all over the world, but nothing competes with the stuff I grew up on.

When I was younger, my dad would cook, and I would never really have it, unless it was something like spaghetti. I would only like what my mom made - macaroni and cheese or something like that. But after I reached a certain age, I think it was 11, I realized I liked his cooking.

I have been cooking with preserved lemon for years, using it left, right and centre, but I am still far from reaching my limit.

My learning from my travels is that taste is objective. If a thing is tasty, it's universally tasty. Or, just not.

The Da Jing street market is little more than a few narrow intersections, barely six blocks long. But for a visitor, it is a living, breathing education in Shanghai cuisine, a style distinguished by its thick savory sauces spiked with sugar and soy sauce.

I had whale tartare when I was in Japan, but I probably wouldn't have it again.

I think that people are getting really excited about different ethnic food, and almost even micro-ethnic food. So it's not just, 'I love Asian,' it's Szechuan or Hunan, this one style from China.

The biggest thing for me when I travel is finding the best food in every city. I always try to find the best restaurant and take advantage of it because it's cool to go to a lot of different cities and experience a lot of different cultures. So I'm big on the food.

Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything.

At wd~50, we have carried on, I think, a very honest, legitimate European tradition of messing with foie gras.

At fancy and expensive restaurants (say, $50 and up for a dinner), you can follow a simple procedure to choose the best meal. Look at the menu and ask yourself: 'Which of these items do I least want to order?' Or: 'Which one sounds the least appetizing?' Then order that item.

Given my travels, I've learned to be more open and feel much more comfortable experimenting with food.

What makes the food that we do at Alinea so interesting on the outside is that we really don't let ourselves say no to an idea.

There is a charm in making a stew, to the unaccustomed cook, from the excitement of wondering what the result will be, and whether any flavour save that of onions will survive the competition in the mixture.

I cook, I create, I'm incredibly excited by what I do, I've still got a lot to achieve.

For me, it's the unexpected and surprising combinations of produce that are the most exciting and lure me into the kitchen for a little bit of experimenting. Apples and sweet potatoes together? Who knew? Carrots with grapes? Okay. I may not be Julia Child, but I can do pretty well with a simple recipe and a lot of enthusiasm.

I spent a college semester in a small town in Italy - and that is where I truly tasted food for the first time.

Apparently, in the olden days, nawabs would get bored with their cooks very quickly and throw them out. All of them set up shop in a place called Bawarchi Tola. That's how royal food came to the streets. I started hanging around there. That's when I realised food is a lot more than just cooking on Sundays.

I'm not normally very adventurous with food.

Actually, after many years on the campaign trail, there is not a particular food that I've come across that I would avoid.

Learning to cook at school gave me the confidence to experiment in the kitchen when I left home in my late teens - I wasn't intimidated by it.

I love to try the local food wherever I am. But I'm not that adventurous when it comes to eating. I prefer to be safe. I have failed at eating some daring food.