The Food Section: Quotable

Don Tillman on Mister Softee

"I don’t know what they are putting in it today but you can walk from the East Village to Central Park and it will maintain its form like a beehive hairdo."

Mario Batali on Human Nature

"I've stumbled across my theory in the last two years, that really all discord in the human race is based on two things: You either need a nap or you're hungry."

Rowley Leigh on Porchetta

"I haven’t been to a street market in Singapore or wandered around the barrios of Mexico City. I have, however, strolled around a few markets in Tuscany and Umbria and can say porchetta is the best street food I know. It beats hamburgers or hot dogs and I can’t imagine why some fast food entrepreneur does not pick up on the idea but at the same time hope that he does not."

Francis Lam on Eating Lobster

"Dear Lobster, I am sorry. Not for eating you, for your meat was like butter and nuts and had a richness that didn’t seem like it should belong to the sea....But I am sorry for thinking of you as my enemy."

Nigel Slater on Mangoes

"Slippery as a bar of soap it was. I was licking my palms even before I had taken a bite. But actually I didn't bite it, deciding instead to take off slice after slice with the knife and eat them straight from the blade. The juice ran down my arm to my elbow and then dripped tantalisingly on to my bare toes."

Jamie Oliver on Sex

"The best way for women to get their men into the kitchen would be to stop having sex with them until they start to cook."

Mario Batali on Sweatpants

"I've made a career out of wearing shorts. Sweatpants are too post-'Sopranos.' Guys out on Long Island are doing it though."