I believe in using fresh, high quality from-the-earth ingredients and cooking methods that protect the natural goodness and nutrients of foods, while always maximizing flavor and taste.
As a chef, I feel that it is my duty to make the most of what the earth gives us.
Growing up, we always had a big garden, and it just gave me the passion and appreciation for really good food.
You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else.
I know when you think about the South, you think about fried foods, but we eat a tremendous amount of vegetables. I have my own garden, so vegetables have always been a big part of my life. I love broccoli. I love fresh beets. It's not all about the fried chicken and the biscuits.
Frankly, any city person who doesn't think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn't deserve my special food.
My contribution I hope is to get people to eat full-flavored food. If I could come away with that alone, that would be a fantastic accomplishment. I'm also very proud of being a very American chef.
I cook. I go to farmers markets in London and cook really good sort of organic foods.
I'm not crazy about oysters and offal and brains and stuff like that. It's vegetables that I really like. I worked in the River Cafe restaurant when it first opened, and I used to eat the leftover vegetables on the plates. They were so delicious.
I have a love affair with tomatoes and corn. I remember them from my childhood. I only had them in the summer. They were extraordinary.
I look forward to the spring vegetables because the season is so short. Mushrooms, edible foraged herbs, wild leeks, early season asparagus.
As a student of Alice Waters, the patron saint of salad, I'm no stranger to the art of lettuce washing.
Chipotle is really showing that there's a better way to do fast food.
Close interaction with farmers and scientists can expose the chef to new flavours that can be used to delight diners.
I grew up with that farm-to-table dining before it was sweeping the nation. I do think there's some value to really throwing yourself into food and embracing where it comes from.
I love to shop at the farmer's market or grab something from the garden and roast that.
For my 9th birthday, my only wish was to eat like a farmer boy. I had devoured 'The Little House on the Prairie' book series and wanted to be like Almanzo Wilder, the protagonist of 'Farmer Boy,' one of the later installments in the 'Little House' series.
