This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
Thomas KellerRead
I wanted to write about what we were doing at the French Laundry, the recipes and the stories.
Interpretation
Thomas Keller emphasizes the importance of storytelling and creativity in culinary art.
In this quote, Thomas Keller expresses a desire to capture the essence of his culinary experiences at the French Laundry, highlighting the significance of not just the recipes themselves, but also the narratives that accompany the food. This reflects a deeper appreciation for the artistry involved in cooking, where every dish tells a story and serves as a medium for conveying personal and cultural experiences.
In practice
In a culinary class, I quoted Thomas Keller to inspire students about the importance of creativity in cooking.
This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.
Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.
It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.
I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.
I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.
There’s something very important about films about black women and girls being made by black women. It’s a different perspective. It is a reflection as opposed to an interpretation, and I think we get a lot of interpretations about the lives of women that are not coming from women.
Being a writer is part of a noble tradition, as is being a musician – the last egalitarian and open associations. No matter what happens in terms of fame and fortune, dedication to writing is a marching-step forward from where you were before, when you didn’t care about reaching out to the world, when you weren’t hoping to contribute, when you were just standing there doing some job into which you had fallen.
'Rent' was the show that made me want to write. Or that showed me you're allowed to write.
Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones.
I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.
And ever against eating cares Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.