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Eating is so intimate. It's very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table and you want to cook for them, you're inviting a person into your life.

What bothers me is that there is so much emphasis on food, rather than gathering and meeting - so that there is all this effort in creating the right food, whereas the food is only a small part of whether the encounter is successful or not.

I never eat at home. Dinner is my time to be social and catch up with people.

People think that if you have a huge appetite, then you'll be better at it. But actually, it's how you confront the food that is brought to you. You have to be mentally and psychologically prepared.

I think that we can often be eating and not even really acknowledging that we are putting something about our mouths. I think there is lot to be said about eating dinner and not having the distraction of the TV.

Almost every time we get together with family or friends, the conversation ends up being about food.

If I eat mindlessly while watching television, reading, or talking with someone else, I can go through an entire meal without tasting the food, without even noticing that I've been eating. The plate is empty but I didn't enjoy the food - I had all of the calories and little of the pleasure.

Eating without conversation is only stoking.

Very rarely does food enhance the conversation. If the food is really good, there'll be much less conversation because you'd be concentrating too much on the food.

I don't really like going out for dinner. It's way better to not have to wait for food... It's quite boring. I don't cook anything, though; I just transfer it from the fridge into bowls. I'm more of a transferer than a cook.