Anthony Bourdain

Jamie Oliver is a hero for doing the harder thing—when he surely doesn’t have to do anything at all. Most chefs I know, were they where Jamie is on the Success-O-Meter? They’d be holed up at a Four Seasons somewhere, shades drawn, watching four tranny hookers snort cocaine off each other

stone-dead in a long, dreary dirge. Nothing could live in this temple of hubris

Cheese is expensive. Very expensive. And perishable. And delicate. Properly aged, stored, served, and handled cheese is even more expensive.

The French understand the greatness of such men immediately.

it was clear he’d been snookered. How much had he spent on this exercise in futility

dating back to Roman times: the right to hand-feed ducks and geese, who live in far better conditions than any chicken ever sold at the Colonel’s, until their livers become plump and delicious

She hates hypocrisy, silliness, mendacity. She is immaculate in the consistency and regularity of her loathing.

People who write professionally about food—to the exclusion of all other topics—are painfully aware of the limitations of the form

The word “chef” means “chief.” A chef is simply a cook who leads other cooks

. As a writer, he has all God’s gifts: experience, knowledge of subject matter, a vocabulary—and the ability to put words together in entertaining and incisive fashion