To become a good cook is to know yourself, and I, at this point, know myself. I know myself, and I know the cook I want to be and the cook I am striving to be.
Interpretation
Understanding oneself is essential to personal and professional growth, especially in a craft like cooking.
This quote by Marcus Samuelsson emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in the journey to becoming proficient in any skill, including cooking. It reflects the idea that knowing one's strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations is crucial for growth and improvement, and that true mastery comes from a deep understanding of oneself and one's passions.
In practice
In a cooking class, this quote reminds students to embrace their unique styles as they learn.
I'm engaged in food on so many levels, and I love that. So my work, my craft, is around food, and writing is one aspect of it; communicating a narrative, cooking online is one aspect of it; solving the food chasm that we have in Harlem and finding a farmers market is another one, and all of them are equally exciting for me.
As a chef, I always have in mind how to properly feed the public, but at times it's easy to forget that some people have trouble even getting any food, much less adequate nutrition.
I came into this environment where there was so much love, so much positive energy. I never heard my parents say, 'We have adopted kids.' The minute my sister Linda and I landed in Sweden, we were their kids.
I've been lucky to travel and work all over the world through the lens of the back of the house, and I love that monocle. I love that lens, because it's real people.
Children want to mimic adults. They notice when you choose to prepare fresh vegetables over calling in another pizza pie for dinner. They will see that food made with love and care outweighs going through the drive-through window.
Simple ingredients can be used to make elegant dishes with just a little extra attention to detail.
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
In particular I may mention Sophocles the poet, who was once asked in my presence, How do you feel about love, Sophocles? are you still capable of it? to which he replied, Hush! if you please: to my great delight I have escaped from it, and feel as if I had escaped from a frantic and savage master. I thought then, as I do now, that he spoke wisely. For unquestionably old age brings us profound repose and freedom from this and other passions.
My entire life consisted of musings, calculations, practical works, and trials. Many questions remain unanswered; many works are incomplete or unpublished. The most important things still lie ahead.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
It is grace that forms the void inside us and it is grace that can fill the void.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
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