Ruth Reichl Quotes

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We waited, eating resilient, deeply satisfying bread dipped in spicy oil that tasted exactly like fresh olives. Doug reached out and stroked my knee and I had a sudden conscious thought that I was happy.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: We waited, eating resilient, deeply
There is that romanticized idea of what a bookstore can be, what a library can be, what a shop can be. And to me, they are that. These are places that open doors into other worlds if only you're open to them.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: There is that romanticized idea
The implications of Americans devoting their lives to fast food are more profound than the fact that our kids aren't eating well. There are real repercussions that we need to know about and think about.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The implications of Americans devoting
You can be a decent critic if you know about food, but to be a really good one, you need to know about life.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: You can be a decent
Laos is a country where everything is eaten. When I came back, I would find myself chopping parsley and thinking: 'Why am I throwing these stems away? They're perfectly edible.'
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Laos is a country where
I came from a family where, you know, we sat down at the table every night, and you better have a story to tell. My father never wrote his stories down. And you know, I learned that they went farther if you wrote them down.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I came from a family
You look at the Barefoot Contessa or Lydia Bastianich, and it's just like watching your mother cooking.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: You look at the Barefoot
We were having a class on civics, talking about what makes America a great country. I said I thought one important reason is that we've all come from different places in the world and that we learn from one another.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: We were having a class
If you really taste a doughnut, it's pretty disgusting. They taste of grease.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: If you really taste a
I'm a home cook, and I'm constantly embarrassed by twentysomethings who really do know the mechanics of cooking. How to build a sauce.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I'm a home cook, and
When you're a restaurant critic, you're not home at night, so breakfast became really important for us.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: When you're a restaurant critic,
I lay there unable to move, reading about disasters in the far corners of the world. What could I do? Write letters, send checks. But there will never be a time when terrible trouble is not stalking the earth, and I began to see how important it is to appreciate what you have.

For too long I'd been waiting for the wonderful. But there is so much joy in everyday occurrences: a butterfly in the sun the first crisp bite of an apple, the rich aroma of roasting meat. Maybe I had to break my foot to open my eyes, but I finally understood why cooking means so much to me. In a world filled with no, it is my yes.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I lay there unable to
The critic has to do more of what the book critics and art critics have done in the past. Which is give you a context for understanding the restaurant, give you a better way to appreciate it, give you the tools to go in there and be a more informed diner who can get more pleasure out of the experience.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The critic has to do
There is an almost anti-epicurean tradition at the very base of America. For much of the middle part of American history, people who wanted to overcome that went to France.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: There is an almost anti-epicurean
If you have caviar, the way to eat it is by the spoonful. Don't combine it with shrimp, pomegranate seeds and huitlacoche.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: If you have caviar, the
M. F. K. Fisher was a wonder and a huge influence, and someone I got to know pretty well at the end of her life.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: M. F. K. Fisher was
I had done this. I had pulled my life apart. I would never, ever be safe again.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I had done this. I
By the time I met Julia Child, her husband, Paul, was little more than a ghost of a man, so diminished by old age and its attendant diseases that it was impossible to discern the remarkable artist, photographer and poet he once had been.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: By the time I met
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 Quotes: I felt for the first
I loved writing fiction. I mean, once I found the character, or the characters, and knew who they were and knew their back-stories, it really - I mean, I went into my studio every day, thinking, 'What's gonna happen to Billy today?'
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I loved writing fiction. I
I feel as if there's a huge gulf separating me from all the lucky people in the world; they have so much to look forward to.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I feel as if there's
I like to work. I believe that work helps us find our self worth.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I like to work. I
I decided that it wasn't pretty that I felt, but confident.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I decided that it wasn't
I think I wrote my first piece about food in 1978.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I think I wrote my
American food is the food of immigrants. You go back a couple of hundred years, and we were all immigrants, unless we're going to talk about Native American cuisine.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: American food is the food
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 Quotes: Anyone who thinks they're too
My mother really would make these dreadful concoctions. She really prided herself on something called 'Everything Stew,' where she would take everything in the refrigerator, all the leftovers, and put them all together.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: My mother really would make
The hardest part of cooking is shopping, and if you organize yourself and shop once a week, you're halfway there.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The hardest part of cooking
It was Mac who first made me think about the way food brought people together - and kept them apart.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: It was Mac who first
I'm convinced that the main reason we've become so obsessed with restaurants is due to our basic need to get out of virtual space and into a real one. We're not going out to eat merely to share food; we're there to sit at the same table together, slow down, breathe the same air.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I'm convinced that the main
I have to admit I've never had a Fruit Loop.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I have to admit I've
I don't think there's one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I don't think there's one
The first time you make something, follow the recipe, then figure out how to tailor it to your own tastes.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The first time you make
Really, the only way to face the biggest problems we have is for the government to change the way they subsidize food. The way we subsidize food makes it cheaper to go to McDonald's and get a hamburger than a salad, and that's insane.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Really, the only way to
When a person has lived generously and fought fiercely, she deserves more than sadness at the end.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: When a person has lived
What I like best is the challenge of learning something I didn't know how to do, going beyond my comfort level.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: What I like best is
I don't think I hate any food trends.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I don't think I hate
What I learned is that how we present ourselves to the world is really how we get treated. So if you want to be treated really well in a restaurant, you really have to dress up. You cannot just show up.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: What I learned is that
The truth is, as much as I loved writing restaurant reviews, it always felt very self-indulgent to me. It was so much fun, I loved doing it, but there's so much else to say about food.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The truth is, as much
Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Pull up a chair. Take
I think it's part of the DNA of human beings. We are a cooking animal. What differentiates us from all the other animals is that we cook and they don't.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I think it's part of
When people flatter you constantly it is very tempting to think you deserve it.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: When people flatter you constantly
I once ate nothing but grapefruit for an entire month. I didn't lose a pound.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I once ate nothing but
It was through cooking food and sharing it with each other that our ancestors learned how to become social animals.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: It was through cooking food
It is not 'only' food, I said heatedly. There's meaning hidden underneath each dish.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: It is not 'only' food,
Writing about food is my default.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Writing about food is my
I've named my cookies Snowballs, but not because that's what they look like. It's the way they make you feel. You know how it is when a snowball is flying toward you on an icy-cold night? The stars are glittering, and the snow is twinkling, but you're wrapped up in mittens and boots, so you're toasty warm. It's surprise and comfort, all at the same time; that's how I want them to taste. Do you know what I mean? Here's the recipe: It has chocolate, marshmallows, and pecans in a very buttery batter.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I've named my cookies Snowballs,
A great meal is an experience that nourishes more than your body.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: A great meal is an
I love breakfast, and I don't see any reason it has to be cereal and eggs and toast.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I love breakfast, and I
The meal began with pickled squid, oyster shooters, marinated anchovies, and scungilli salad. Then Rosalie set an enormous bowl of pasta con le vongole in front of Sal, who ladled it out, talking the entire time. The pasta was followed by huge platters of scampi, which we passed around. It was almost eleven when Rosalie set three enormous stuffed turbots on the table, and it was near midnight when she appeared with a plate of warm sugar-dusted sfinge.
"So our first taste of the New Year will be sweet," Sal whispered in my ear.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The meal began with pickled
I don't care what a lot of anonymous strangers think about restaurants.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I don't care what a
Lacy little green fronds waved up through clear liquid; it reminded me of a forest stream in early spring, just after the ice has melted. I picked up a frond, and as I put it in my mouth, I experienced a moment of cool, pure freshness.
"What is it?" I asked Jake, enchanted.
"Mozuku, a special kind of seaweed from Okinawa. You don't think it's slimy?"
"Slippery, but I love the way it feels in my mouth.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Lacy little green fronds waved
When I ate slowly and deliberately, giving myself time to consider whether I actually wanted that next bite, I often discovered that I didn't.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: When I ate slowly and
That's what I like so much about old libraries - they smell the way we'd like to imagine the past.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: That's what I like so
I'm not a big turkey fan, but my husband loves it. Thanksgiving is his favorite meal.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I'm not a big turkey
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 Quotes: Throughout human history beauty has
I like poached eggs, but I'll make scrambled or fried or whatever anybody wants.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I like poached eggs, but
I wanted to figure out a way of living where I didn't have to be in an office every day.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I wanted to figure out
Plain fresh bread, its crust shatteringly crisp. Sweet cold butter. There is magic in the way they come together in your mouth to make a single perfect bite.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Plain fresh bread, its crust
If you go back in American history, oysters were the food of poor people. New York was filled with oyster saloons in the 1800s.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: If you go back in
The American government policy on what we supported and subsidised in agriculture was a social experiment on a whole generation of children.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The American government policy on
The best antidote for sadness, I have always believed, is tackling something that you don't know how to do.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The best antidote for sadness,
I got back into the car thinking how lucky I was to be aware of happiness. Most people don't recognize their own good fortune until it has departed. And then it is too late." "What about Remy? What
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I got back into the
We in the media have been guilty about not doing a better job of making people understand how really simple cooking is. We've made everyone feel like they have to be a chef.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: We in the media have
She was a great cook, but she cooked more for herself than for other people, not because she was hungry but because she was comforted by the rituals of the kitchen.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: She was a great cook,
My mother's father was a doctor, and she desperately wanted to be a doctor.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: My mother's father was a
Sharing food has always had a central place in civilized societies; it's no accident that so many of our cultural, religious and patriotic rituals are involved with eating.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Sharing food has always had
'Comfort Me with Apples' is a love story, or better, two love stories. And since it deals with a later period in my life, most of the people who appear in it are living.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: 'Comfort Me with Apples' is
Go ahead into life, full-blooded, courageous and leap for the adventure. But you must do it soon - before the summer of your youth has cooled off into caution. You are magnificently charming - and you come like a torrent. But you will be spent on the futility of little things. You are not a watercolor. You are carved out of life - and there can be no petty hesitancies about you.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Go ahead into life, full-blooded,
I felt that I was really living in the moment. I did not know where my life was going, but right now the future did not trouble me.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I felt that I was
Don't make a big to-do about the turkey; brine it, put it in the oven, and don't think about it again.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Don't make a big to-do
Reading an audio book is a very odd experience because there are three people sitting out there while you're reading in this glass booth, and you can see their reactions.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Reading an audio book is
It takes a great deal of strength to be an optimist.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: It takes a great deal
In really good times, you say, 'No, I'm not taking that ad.' But in bad times, you'll take anything.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: In really good times, you
The way we allow children to be advertised to is shocking. Eating is a learned behavior, and we've made these kids sitting ducks for all the bad messages about industrialized food. The fact that we allow that to go on is horrifying.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The way we allow children
Don't you just love the idea of cooking flowers? I imagine them bursting into bloom, right in the pan.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Don't you just love the
The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I'm interested in happiness.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: The secret to life is
I think of fiction as the highest calling. I'm kind of addicted to it. It's the thing that has gotten me through all the hard points in my life.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I think of fiction as
My kitchen was built for my body. It forms a 'U' in the middle of the living room and dining room. It's not huge, because I don't like huge kitchens.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: My kitchen was built for
I've been to a couple of restaurants in L.A. that were so loud, I left there with a sore throat; you literally could not have a conversation. I think it's very deliberate: There's this idea that somehow it's more fun if there's a roar in the room.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I've been to a couple
But when I told her they didn't cost one penny and were very nutritious (I made that part up, but I'm sure it must be true), she ate them up. She packed them into her lunch pail this morning, and when I looked
Ruth Reichl Quotes: But when I told her
World War II really fascinated me because it's the only time that everybody in this country sat down at the same table, because eating on rations was your patriotic duty.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: World War II really fascinated
How young you are. When you attain my age you will understand one of life's great secrets: Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: How young you are. When
Hunger, I discovered, is very much a matter of the mind, and as I began to study my own appetites, I saw that my teenage craving had not really been for food. That ravenous desire had been a yearning for love, attention, appreciation. Food had merely been my substitute.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Hunger, I discovered, is very
I wish you could have seen the kitchen when I was done: It looked like a hurricane had blown right in the door! But I cleaned it all up, and when Mother came home the whole house smelled warm and spicy, Bing Crosby was singing "White Christmas" on the radio, I was wearing a clean apron, and she called me her "little homemaker."
What would you think about tomato mincemeat cookies? I bet no one else will think of that!
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I wish you could have
She's always sniffing the bottles in the spice cabinet."
I didn't know she'd even noticed. At first it was just curiosity; why did fennel and cumin, identical twins, have such opposing personalities? I had crushed the seeds beneath my fingertips, where the scents lingered for hours. Another day I'd opened a bottle of nutmeg, startled when the little spheres came rattling out in a mothball-scented cloud. How could something so delicate have such a ferocious smell? And I watched, fascinated, as the supple, plump, purple vanilla beans withered into brittle pods and surrendered their perfume to the air. The spices were all so interesting; it was impossible to walk through the kitchen without opening the cupboard to find out what was going on in there.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: She's always sniffing the bottles
Let's face it: my life tends to revolve around food, and I love feeding people.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Let's face it: my life
Giving people presents is such an intimate act; you're basically telling them who you think they are,
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Giving people presents is such
I think it's hard, when you're someone who likes to please people, as I am, to be a boss. I had to learn how to rein myself in and not terrify people.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I think it's hard, when
My idea of good living is not about eating high on the hog. Rather, to me, good living means understanding how food connects us to the earth.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: My idea of good living
My mother started out by being a very good girl. She did everything that was expected of her, and it cost her dearly. Late in her life, she was furious that she had not followed her own heart; she thought that it had ruined her life, and I think she was right.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: My mother started out by
I am telling you that if things can change for the worse, the opposite is also true. But only if you open yourself to the possibilities.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I am telling you that
To me, cooking is man's natural activity. But I think writing is really hard. Certainly writing fiction is the hardest thing I've ever done.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: To me, cooking is man's
Given a choice between great food and boring company or boring food and great company, I'll take the great company any day.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Given a choice between great
I love to make pies - pot pies, quiches, savory tarts, fruit pies. I use an old-fashioned pastry blender with wires and a wooden handle. I never use a recipe.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I love to make pies
But I have always been persuaded that someday, when I grow up, I am destined for great things. And then I wonder when, exactly, I expect that will be.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: But I have always been
Anybody who believes Yelp is an idiot. Most people on Yelp have no idea what they're talking about.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: Anybody who believes Yelp is
I meet people, and we can get past small talk pretty quickly if they've read my books. It's a great shortcut.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I meet people, and we
I bake bread nearly every day; I use Jim Lahey's no-knead method and leave it to rise overnight.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: I bake bread nearly every
People are so used to eating terrible pancakes, no matter how you mess up, they're going to be great. And if you make fresh orange juice, they'll be over the moon.
Ruth Reichl Quotes: People are so used to
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