Christina Tosi

“I was raised by a gaggle of women who all loved to bake. Dessert always existed after any savory meal. I was raised with cookies on the plate, brownies in a Tupperware container, and so on.”

“When I was about to graduate, I asked myself, 'What could you do every day and never get sick of?' My answer was really simple: Make cookies.”

“Good food is good food. It doesn't have to come with pretense.”

“The 'Momofuku Milk Bar' cookbook is rather technical. I wanted it to feel like you were walking into the doors of our kitchen, it was your first day at work, and we were going to teach you everything.”

“I can't think of a community that couldn't benefit from communal thinking.”

“I'm not a normal person with normal tastebuds, so I'll save you all from cringing/dissing on my late night flavour pairings, but I will say when I was a kid, with little to no access to anything but my mother's pantry, I'd dip everything in ranch dressing, Miracle Whip, katsup, barbecue sauce, honey, mustard, etc.”

“I think the cereal milk is my most proud achievement.”

“Any team member, any community member wants and needs to know they count, that they're welcome, and that they're important.”

“Whenever I get in a car and I'm going to or from the airport or the train station, I put on a TED Talk using the TED app. It makes the trip go by super fast, and it fills my sails.”

“When I get up early, I appreciate the quiet time to enjoy a coffee or water my plants.”

“There's something about fall that very much translates into those nurturing, nostalgic food flavors. It's the season where you can really make the marriage of fresh produce with spices and aromatics.”

“As a chef, I got into this because I love the creative energy and I love the science, but I also love to feed people and make them happy.”

“My first season of 'MasterChef' was tricky. I took a risk going into TV. I was confident it was the right risk and confident I'd break down barriers as the first female judge - and one that was previously only known for the sweeter side of the kitchen.”

“Why not question what can or can't be a layer in layer cake?”

“My family, as you can probably guess, was more into Christmas cookies and not so much the fruitcake.”

“Failure gets a bad rap, but I'd like to change that. Failure is necessary. Let it in. Chew it up, and use it as fuel for your soul.”

“I love a good challenge of looking with new eyes at a tried and true recipe in my recipe Rolodex.”

“I like to be in over my head always, at all times.”

“I need healthy options around, or else if I get hungry, I'll go straight for a cookie.”

“I love feeling exhausted after a good, hard, honest day's work.”