Most cultures traditionally link food and spirituality directly with periodic restrictions and celebrations punctuating the year. Abstinence from particular foods or full-on fasting is part of many religious traditions and holidays.
We know so much about the European food story, and we're getting to know about the American food story; but we know so little about the African food story.
I am a chef through and through. Everything I do - whether it is cooking for kids in Harlem or cooking in a fine dining establishment - all my days are consumed by food.
Recipes are important but only to a point. What's more important than recipes is how we think about food, and a good cookbook should open up a new way of doing just that.
Go to the grocery store and buy better things. Buy quality, buy organic, buy natural, go to the farmers market. Immediately that's going to increase the quality of the food you make.
My job the same as carpenter. What kind of house you want to build? What kind of food you want to make? You think your ingredients, your structure. Simple.
In '71 or '72 I returned to New Orleans and stayed there. I started cooking Louisiana food. Of all the things I had cooked, it was the best-and it was my heritage.
I wait for the next opportunity to have something to do with food. If I get rested, my mind just starts creating new dishes - click, click, click.
I'd like to have the first restaurant that can deliver incredible quality food to your table at your house at any time-right where you live.
Every meal should end with something sweet. Maybe it's jelly on toast at breakfast, or a small piece of chocolate at dinner - but it always helps my brain bring a close to the meal.
That was my childhood. I grew up with the monks, studying Sanskrit and meditating for hours in the morning and hours in the evening, and going once a day to beg for food.
The concept of being a locavore, or one who chooses whenever possible to incorporate locally grown or locally produced food into one's nutrition plan, is of great importance.
I love to create, and to me, the ultimate freedom of expression is a blank canvas or a block of clay to capture whatever emotions your imagination gives it.
I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday that is centered around food and family, two things that are of utmost importance to me.
Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?
A wise woman knows how to summon her courage and do what is right, rather than what is easy.
Courage is not always about action. It takes courage to do nothing rather than do something that you do not believe in or understand.
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, and I love that. It's cool to have different foods from all over the world within a stone's throw of my house.
I see a lot of people who change careers in the middle of their life and they think it's a good idea to come in the kitchen.
