Travel Documentarian Quotes

“People are generally proud of their food. A willingness to eat and drink with people without fear and prejudice... they open up to you in ways that somebody visiting who is driven by a story may not get.”

“Turning your nose up at a genuine and sincere gesture of hospitality is no way to travel or to make friends around the world.”

“I do my very best to avoid shark fin.”

“What's the opposite of suck? Un-suck?”

“I wanted it to look like real cooking in someone's real home or just so out-of-there bizarre that it would be fun.”

“Jiro Ono serves Edo-style traditional sushi, the same 20 or 30 pieces he's been making his whole life, and he's still unsatisfied with the quality and every day wakes up and trains to make the best. And that is as close to a religious experience in food as one is likely to get.”

“It's that show Friends. Ruined coffee forever.”

“If people are working only rice and beans for much of their diet, it says something.”

“My daughter takes pride in showing up with stuff that other kids envy or are freaked out by, so I send her to school with grilled octopus.”

“And now to sleep, to dream...perchance to fart.”

“My daughter always behaved in restaurants. And if she didn't, she's going out. I mean, one of the parents is going to take her outside. Immediately.”

“If somebody crafts an interesting tweet that’ll lead me to their blog, I’m going to their blog.”

“My mom had Julia Child and 'The Fannie Farmer Cookbook' on top of the refrigerator, and she had a small repertoire of French dishes.”

“Good food does lead to sex. As it should. And in a perfect world, good music does too.”

“At the end of a dinner at my house, my kitchen sink is filled with dishes and there's nothing pretty about the garbage.”

“Thinking that your story is so interesting that other people will want to listen to it or read it or pay to hear it, that's - what kind of person thinks that? A monster of self-regard. It's not normal thinking.”

“When you have a child you're no longer the star of the movie.”

“I wouldn't want to compare myself to David Byrne whom I consider a genius, but what I think what we have in common is that he's also a guy who is very interested in the world and who has a lot of passions beyond singing and playing guitar.”

“I’m a Twitter addict. Jose Andres is a serial tweeter. It’s funny to see which chefs have embraced it, and the different paths they take.”

“Wholesome food is wholesome food anywhere. I may not like something but, generally speaking, if it's a busy, street food stall serving mystery meat in India, they're in the business of serving their neighbors. They're not targeted toward a transient crowd of tourists that won't be around tomorrow. They're not in the business of poisoning their neighbors.”

“If you have a good experience in a restaurant, you tell 2 people. If you have a bad experience, you tell 10 people.”

“I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one. Letting the happy accident happen is what a lot of vacation itineraries miss, I think, and I’m always trying to push people to allow those things to happen rather than stick to some rigid itinerary.”

“You realize after you travel enough that there's some things that, no matter how good you are at making television, no matter how good your cameras are, how well it's edited, there's no way the lenses could have captured the moment, and there's no way you will ever be able to write about it and do it justice.”

“Look, getting bullied in school and coming home crying in the rain and my mom making me a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup with some oysterettes. It was comfort food; that is what food should be.”

“There are very sophisticated, very time-consuming dishes to prepare; always from scratch, and always in excess of what you could possibly need. You tend to kill your guests with kindness around here.”