Quotes by Food Critics

Throughout human history beauty has been seen as a gift from God, but Mom had another notion; she thought that beauty could be earned through self-knowledge. It may be a revolutionary idea, but it has offered me great comfort.
Ruth Reichl
We slid along water reds and greens, the changing lights captured in the canvas of wet tar.
Ruth Reichl
Hermione was back, holding out a gossamer dress of rainbow chiffon so airy I thought of fireflies on a moonlight night.
Ruth Reichl
That's the most terrible thing about being a child; you're convinced that it's all your fault." Lulu
Ruth Reichl
I felt for the first time that the library belonged here. The house was reclaiming its spirit, and the library, which had stood aloof and apart for so many years, was turning back into what it was always meant to be: the heart of this home.
Ruth Reichl
My yogurt was nestled into a bag, waiting to turn into aushak, and all around us were sausages and pastry, lollipops and spices, chicken and cheese. Any world that contained all this, I thought surveying our loot, was a very fine place. I felt reinvigorated, alive, optimistic. The though of getting back to work suddenly seemed like fun.
Ruth Reichl
Whenever I have nothing better to do, I roast a chicken.
Jeffrey Steingarten
A great meal is an experience that nourishes more than your body.
Ruth Reichl
Don't you just love the idea of cooking flowers? I imagine them bursting into bloom, right in the pan.
Ruth Reichl
Nearly everyone wants as least one outstanding meal a day.
Duncan Hines
As a leftover sixties liberal, I believe that the long arm and beady eyes of the government have no place in our bedrooms, our kitchens, or the backseats of our parked cars. But I also feel that the immediate appointment of a Special Pastry Prosecutor would do much more good than harm. We know the free market has totally failed when 89 percent of all the tart pastry, chocolate-chip cookies, and tuiles in America are far less delicious than they would be if bakers simply followed a few readily available recipes. What we need is a system of graduated fines and perhaps short jail sentences to discourage the production of totally depressing baked goods. Maybe a period of unpleasant and tedious community service could be substituted for jail time.
Jeffrey Steingarten
...I was not prepared for the feel of the noodles in my mouth, or the purity of the taste. I had been in Japan for almost a month, but I had never experiences anything like this. The noodles quivered as if they were alive, and leapt into my mouth where they vibrated as if playing inaudible music.
Ruth Reichl
...it was so rich and exotic I was seduced into taking one bite and then another as I tried to chase the flavors back to their source.
Ruth Reichl
Every restaurant is a theater, and the truly great ones allow us to indulge in the fantasy that we are rich and powerful. When restaurants hold up their end of the bargain, they give us the illusion of being surrounded by servants intent on ensuring our happiness and offering extraordinary food. But even modest restaurants offer the opportunity to become someone else, at least for a little while. Restaurants free us from mundane reality; that is part of their charm. When you walk through the door, you are entering neutral territory where you are free to be whoever you choose for the duration of the meal.
Ruth Reichl
Nothing rekindles my spirits, gives comfort to my heart and mind, more than a visit to Mississippi... and to be regaled as I often have been, with a platter of fried chicken, field peas, collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with French dressing... and to top it all off with a wedge of freshly baked pecan pie.
Craig Claiborne
Anyone who thinks they're too grown up or too sophisticated to eat caramel corn, is not invited to my house for dinner
Ruth Reichl
Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.
Craig Claiborne
That's what I like so much about libraries, they smell the way we would like to imagine the past.
Ruth Reichl
That's what I like so much about old libraries - they smell the way we'd like to imagine the past.
Ruth Reichl
Whenever I travel to the South, the first thing I do is visit the best barbecue place between the airport and my hotel. An hour or two later I visit the best barbecue place between my hotel and dinner.
Jeffrey Steingarten
Tommy and I put on a radio play to entertain everyone while they unpacked their cookies. It was about a girl who saves up money for a prom dress, but at the last minute she says, "It's only clothes," and buys war bonds instead. The play was a big success, and my whole school pledged to buy war bonds, which should have made me happy. But it gave me a queer feeling; it's easy to write propaganda when everyone agrees with you. Do you understand? I think I'd rather bake cookies; it feels more honest. Your friend, LuluSammy looked down at me. "A girl after your own heart!" he said. "In my experience it is a rare female who can say, 'It's only clothes,' and when the war came, you discovered who you really were. Women changed. Children grew up overnight. I wonder what happened to this one.
Ruth Reichl
As long as I can remember, male candy eaters have been ill-used, misunderstood, and denigrated, in films and on television, as weak, self-indulgent, soft, effeminate, undisciplined, and venal. Most of us have been driven underground. We eat our candy alone and on the sly. We never experience the intimacy of sharing candy with others—unless we have chosen our mates wisely.
Jeffrey Steingarten
My mother once said that having a small child is like having a permanently drunk houseguest.
Moira Hodgson
A thousand years ago the Chinese had an entirely codified kitchen while the French were still gnawing on bones. Chopsticks have been around since the fourth century B.C. Forks didn't show up in England until 1611, and even then they weren't meant for eating but just to hold the meat still while you hacked at it with your knife.
Ruth Reichl
I decided that it wasn’t pretty that I felt, but confident.
Ruth Reichl
Too often we only identify the crucial points in our lives in retrospect. At the time we are too absorbed in the fetid detail of the moment to spot where it is leading us. But not this time. I was experiencing one of my dad’s deafening moments. If my life could be understood as a meal of many courses (and let’s be honest, much of it actually was), then I had finished the starters and I was limbering up for the main event. So far, of course, I had made a stinking mess of it. I had spilled the wine. I had dropped my cutlery on the floor and sprayed the fine white linen with sauce. I had even spat out some of my food because I didn’t like the taste of it.“But it doesn’t matter because, look, here come the waiters. They are scraping away the debris with their little horn and steel blades, pulled with studied grace from the hidden pockets of their white aprons. They are laying new tablecloths, arranging new cutlery, placing before me great domed wine glasses, newly polished to a sparkle. There are more dishes to come, more flavors to try, and this time I will not spill or spit or drop or splash. I will not push the plate away from me, the food only half eaten. I am ready for everything they are preparing to serve me. Be in no doubt; it will all be fine.” (pp.115-6)
Jay Rayner
I am simply of the opinion that you cannot be taught to write. You have to spend a lifetime in love with words.
Craig Claiborne
Kau tak boleh mengukur kemampuan seseorang dari usianya.
Bondan Winarno
Terlambat adalah dosa besar menurut ukuran Swedia. Apa pun alasannya.
Bondan Winarno
Ketika ada pilihan, kita harus memilih.
Bondan Winarno
Kau tak akan pernah mengerti, memang. Aku perempuan dan kau laki-laki. Jadi, perlakukanlah aku seperti seorang perempuan. Seranglah aku! Jangan tunggu aku menyerangmu.
Bondan Winarno
Well, Presiden Reagan kan sudah bilang. Bila temanmu kehilangan pekerjaan, maka kau tahu arti resesi. Dan bila giliranmu kehilangan pekerjaan, maka barulah kau tahu arti depresi.
Bondan Winarno
Jangan katakan 'aku mencintaimu'. Kita hanya dua makhluk kesepian yang dipertautkan oleh keadaan. Dan keadaan akan selalu berubah.
Bondan Winarno
When a person has lived generously and fought fiercely, she deserves more than sadness at the end.
Ruth Reichl
But the goal of the arts, culinary or otherwise, is not to increase our comfort. That is the goal of an easy chair.
Jeffrey Steingarten
Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.
Ruth Reichl