"We may live without poetry, music and art;
we may live without conscience and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks."
Owen Meredith
"I detest minginess, cheating on quality...anything over-cooked, over-herbed, over-sauced, over elaborate. Nothing can go very far wrong at the table as long as there is honest bread, butter, olive oil, a generous spirit, lively appetites and attention to what we are eating."
Sybille Bedford