I Say: If You Don't Know How

Food Can Be Utilized For Economic Reasons, Like The Grain Embargo Of Carter 40 Years Ago. You Have A Political Decision, You Are Going To Move The Flow Of Food In A Part Of The World And Not Another Part Of The World. And Certainly Now, With The Way The Country Is Polarized And All That, You Wouldn't Want To Have A French Menu, With A French Thing - You'd Be Crucified! Or Anything Like That. You Have To Be A Real American And Apple Pie And This And That.

It's More Useful To Have Knowledge About Cuts Of Meat Than A Lot Of Money.

My Palate Is Simpler Than It Used To Be. A Young Chef Adds And Adds And Adds To The Plate. As You Get Older, You Start To Take Away.

My Mother Likes What I Cook, But Doesn't Think It's French. My Wife Is Puerto Rican And Cuban, So I Eat Rice And Beans. We Have A Place In Mexico, But People Think I'm The Quintessential French Chef.

You Know, My Parents Had A Restaurant. And I Left Home, Actually, In 1949, When I Was 13 Years Old, To Go Into Apprenticeship. And Actually When I Left Home, Home Was A Restaurant - Like I Said, My Mother Was A Chef. So I Can't Remember Any Time In My Life, From Age 5, 6, That I Wasn't In A Kitchen.