Quotes from Raymond Sokolov

Manhattan is a narrow island off the coast of New Jersey devoted to the pursuit of lunch.

The exchange of foodstuffs began as a deliberate policy of the Spanish crown. Old World crops and livestock were introduced to Mexico and Peru to support a civilized (that is, Spanish) way of live for the colonists, and New World exotica were sent to Spain as novelties and for agricultural exploitation. But once tomatoes had taken root in Italy, once cattle provided beef and gave milk in Mexico, then local cooks put these wonderful new foods to new uses. And the world changed.

Sichuan food would not be Sichuanese without the hot chilies that arrived before 1700 from South America.

The noncook is in a helpless position, much like that of the car owner who can't change a tire and has to depend on mechanics to keep his automobile running.

Reservations and cloth napkins are really minor pinnacles in the high sierra of the New York lunch. The zenith, the Mount Whitney of lunches, the noon meal at which all local lines of force converge [is] the Bar Room of the Four Seasons.