“sometimes i feel like a great chefwho has devoted his entire lifeto monastic study of the art of cooking& gathered the finest ingredients& built the most advanced kitchen& prepared the most exquisite mealso perfect, so delicious, so extraordinarymore astounding than any meal ever createdyet each day i stand in my window& watch ninety-seven percent of the worldwalk past my restaurantinto the mcdonald'sacross the street”

“Toward the end of February 1954, James Beard was at work in his Greenwich Village kitchen doing what he most loved to do: cooking delicious meals.”

“And so it has taken me all of sixty years to understand that water is the finest drink, and bread the most delicious food. and that art is worthless unless it plants a measure of splendor in people's hearts.”

“No book is ever perfectNo piece of art is ever perfectNo meal I cook is ever perfect But at some point we have to eat...”

“The task of any good cook, of any parent, is to be present- in the kitchen and out. To taste all the items, absorb each child's day, all those moments, and form them into the day's meals.”

“You are the most amazing man I've ever met and I love you so much I sometimes feel like I can't contain it inside my chest. Don't ever say I deserve better. You are the best there is.”