Yotam Ottolenghi

“There used to be a time - it isn't so much the case now - that vegetarianism was some kind of religion, and either you belong or you don't belong.”

“Fusion food as a concept is kind of trying to quite consciously fuse things that are sometimes quite contradictory, sometimes quite far apart, to see if they'd work.”

“I don't do guilt. Whatever I do, I do it happily.”

“You don't need a machine to make pasta: a rolling pin and a fast hand can create a smooth, if thick, sheet.”

“Brussels sprouts are really quite versatile.”

“Stereotypical vegetarian food looks gray and brown.”

“The smells of slow cooking spread around the house and impart a unique warmth matched only by the flavour of the food.”

“Cobnuts have a fresher flavour than any other nut I know of and go very well with autumnal fruit and light cheeses.”

“Small okra pods have a much more attractive texture than large ones, which, when cooked, can be gloopy, stringy and totally spoil a dish.”

“The way to entice people into cooking is to cook delicious things.”

“When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.”

“TV chefs are not responsible for people's consumption of fibre; this is not our job.”

“Turkish cuisine is, to my mind, one of the most exciting and accomplished in the world.”

“In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.”

“When it comes to the battle of the molluscs, cephalopods win tentacles down.”

“The difference between a bland tomato and great one is immense, much like the difference between a standard, sliced white bread and a crusty, aromatic sourdough.”

“It's well worth making your own harissa, but there are some very good commercial varieties.”

“Some breakfast cereals only come into their own as children's party treats: what are cornflakes and Coco Pops for, if not to clump together with melted chocolate and spoon into a cupcake holder?”

“Buckwheat, like Marmite and durian, is a seriously divisive foodstuff, so it needs a seriously capable defence team if it's ever going to make it on to most people's dinner tables.”

“Food can bring people together in a way nothing else could.”