I'm glad it's a woman. It can't be anything but encouraging to people to have someone at the top, particularly from another country. That particularly makes a beautiful statement that someone has succeeded to the extent that they represent the president.

Edna Lewis had the hands and soul of a great artist, and like all great artists, she had something of which the rest of us know little or nothing.

Papayas should never be refrigerated.

I think she's really up there at the top. It happens only when somebody is very non-compromising and when somebody is attending to all the details and learning about all the changes in food. The way she has incorporated organic ingredients into her standard repertoire, she is somebody who is keeping up on what's important and getting better at doing it.

I'm always going back to Elizabeth David. I continue to be a fan. I can read and reread and find something important in there.

Every change ultimately is one for the better. You don't know how it is going to be. It is just shuffling the cards, and people who haven't revealed themselves might reveal themselves.