Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread- there may be.

A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out as good for nothing.

"You know," she said, "there's a recipe for macaroni and cheese I've always been meaning to try. It's the one where you boil up about three pounds of macaroni, and then you grate cheese on it. It only takes about three minutes."

It is surely no mere coincidence that the land of the emancipated and enthroned woman is also the land of canned soup, of canned pork and beans, of whole meals in cans, and of everything else ready made.

The meal, of course, was ghastly-fried plaice smothered in cream sauce, the usual Brussels sprouts boiled beyond cognizance, and a soggy plum tart as fibrous as corrugated paper.

His [Prince Norodom Sihanouk's] table was one of the best in town, often laden with gooseberries and guinea fowl... He had nine chefs "because I am a gourmet. They prepare me Cambodian food, French food, Chinese food, anything you want."

It's impossible to get a recognizable sandwich in the vicinity of this court or an unadorned piece of meat or fish. Order a tuna on rye, and no doubt it'll be topped with melted cheese and a maraschino cherry.

Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration.

Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks.

I love the Chinese words for greeting: not strictly 'Hello' but 'Have you eaten yet?'