Cooking
Quotes - A good meal is like a present
“I
don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over
the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-deprecations such as
"Oh, I don't know how to cook...," or "Poor little me...,"
or "This may taste awful...," it is so dreadful to have to reassure
her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such
admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived
shortcomings), and make the other person think, "Yes, you're right, this really
is an awful meal!" Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce
has frozen, or the cake has collapsed -- eh bien, tant pis! Usually one's
cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, as my
ersatz eggs Florentine surely were, then the cook must simply grit her teeth
and bear it with a smile -- and learn from her mistakes.”
―
Julia Child, My Life in France
“[The
kitchen] was also messy--delightfully so, thought Jane--and it didn't look as
though lots of cooking went on there. There was a laptop computer on the
counter with duck stickers on it, the spice cabinet was full of Ben's toy
trucks, and Jane couldn't spot a cookbook anywhere. This is the kitchen of a
Thinker, she decided, and promised herself that she'd never bother with
cooking, either.”
―
Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
“I
always wondered why the makers leave housekeeping and cooking out of their
tales. Isn't it what all the great wars and battles are fought for -- so that
at day's end a family may eat together in a peaceful house? The tale tells how
the Lords of Manva hunted & gathered roots & cooked their suppers while
they were camped in exile in the foothills of Sul, but it doesn't say what
their wives & children were living on in their city left ruined &
desolate by the enemy. They were finding food too, somehow, cleaning house
& honoring the gods, the way we did in the siege & under the tyranny of
the Alds. When the heroes came back from the mountain, they were welcomed with
a feast. I'd like to know what the food was and how the women managed it.”
―
Ursula K. Le Guin, Voices
“Save
the Planet...Buy Organic”
―
Nancy Philips
“I
read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and say to
myself "well, that's not going to happen”
―
Rita Rudner
“Tita
knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn
flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn't been warmed by the
fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.”
―
Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate
“Every
so often I would look at my women friends who were happily married and didn't
cook, and I would always find myself wondering how they did it. Would anyone
love me if I couldn't cook? I always thought cooking was part of the package:
Step right up, it's Rachel Samstat, she's bright, she's funny and she can
cook!”
―
Nora Ephron, Heartburn
“Because
cooks love the social aspect of food, cooking for one is intrinsically
interesting. A good meal is like a present, and it can feel goofy, at best, to
give yourself a present. On the other hand, there is something life affirming
in taking the trouble to feed yourself well, or even decently. Cooking for
yourself allows you to be strange or decadent or both. The chances of liking
what you make are high, but if it winds up being disgusting, you can always
throw it away and order a pizza; no one else will know. In the end, the
experimentation, the impulsiveness, and the invention that such conditions
allow for will probably make you a better cook.”
―
Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of
Cooking for One and Dining Alone
“There
is communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk.”
―
M.F.K. Fisher
“Invest
in what's real. Clean as you go. Drink while you cook. Make it fun. It doesn't
have to be complicated. It will be what it will be.”
―
Gwyneth Paltrow, My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating
Family & Togetherness
“in
the abstract art of cooking,
ingredients
trump appliances,
passion
supersedes expertise,
creativity
triumphs over technique,
spontaneity
inspires invention,
and
wine makes even the worst culinary disaster taste delicious.”
―
Bob Blumer
“Taking
solitude in stride was a sign of strength and of a willingness to take care of
myself. This meant - among other things - working productively, remembering to
leave the house, and eating well. I thought about food all the time. I had a
subscription to Gourmet and Food & Wine. Cooking for others had often been
my way of offering care. So why, when I was alone, did I find myself trying to
subsist on cereal and water? I'd need to learn to cook for one.”
―
Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of
Cooking for One and Dining Alone
“In
fact, people who posses not magic at all can instill their home-cooked meals
with love and security and health, transforming ingredients and bringing
disparate people together as family and friends. There's a reason that when
opening one's home to guests, the first thing you do is offer food and drink.
Cooking is a kind of everyday magic.”
―
Juliet Blackwell
“There
is a difference between dining and eating. Dining is an art. When you eat to
get most out of your meal, to please the palate, just as well as to satiate the
appetite, that,my friend, is dining.”
―
Yuan Mei
“Standing
back and staring blankly at the glass, he realized he had no idea what it meant
to preheat. Obviously he heated it prior to something, but to what?
-Boyd”
―
Ais, Evenfall
“I
bet you cook good, huh?" Darlene asked.
"Mother
doesn't cook," Ignatius said dogmatically.
"She
burns.”
―
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
“The
only thing that will make a souffle fall is if it knows you're afraid of it.”
―
James Beard
“if
god had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.”
―
Linda Henley
“Zip
it kiddo. Don't ever admit you know a thing about cooking or it'll be used
against you later in life.”
―
Rebecca Wells, Little Altars Everywhere
“Never
cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink,” he said. “Though I guess that presupposes
that there is a wine I wouldn’t drink.”
―
Lev Grossman, The Magicians
“Cooking
is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the
twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients
has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take
a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.”
―
Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook
