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I think you owe it to your kids to teach them how to cook - you know, self-survival.

Cooking is like anything else: some people have an inborn talent for it. Some become expert by practicing, and some learn from books.

You learn to cook so that you don't have to be a slave to recipes. You get what's in season and you know what to do with it.

If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat.

I'm not a trained chef. I'm a self-taught cook, and I want people to be like, 'Yo, I could do that! Maybe I didn't think to or maybe it seemed harder than it really is.'

Most cooks try to learn by making dishes. Doesn't mean you can cook. It means you can make that dish. When you can cook is when you can go to a farmers market, buy a bunch of stuff, then go home and make something without looking at a recipe. Now you're cooking.

The cooking profession, while it's a noble craft and a noble calling, 'cause you're doing something useful - you're feeding people, you're nurturing them, you're providing sustenance - it was never pure.

We in the media have been guilty about not doing a better job of making people understand how really simple cooking is. We've made everyone feel like they have to be a chef.

As chefs, we cook to please people, to nourish people.

I never learned to cook; I was a little spoiled as far as that's concerned.