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Quotes of the Day for 5 May 2012 – James Beard
James Andrew Beard was born at Portland, Oregon on this day in 1903 and raised in the boardinghouse hotel his mother managed. At age three he was bedridden with malaria, the Chinese cook prepared special foods for him and became an important part of his upbringing. He entered Reed College, Portland but was expelled in 1922 for homosexual activity. He left Portland to travel with a theatrical troupe, studying voice and theater along the way, ending up in Paris before returning to the US in 1927. Ten years later, with his acting career stalled, he started a catering company, Hors d'Oeuvre, Inc., and published his first cookbook. He first appeared on television in 1946 and opened the James Beard Cooking School in 1955. While he admired and was influenced by both Chinese and French cooking, Beard focused on American foods prepared simply from fresh ingredients, although finances forced him to accept sponsorships from, and use the ingredients of, branded food products. As I try to cut down on the mountains of books here, not to mention getting control of my weight, I've tried to get rid of my James Beard cookbooks. Really. I'm not sure it can be done.
You will find an expanded profile, photo, additional biographical links, and all quotes from this author on the author's Notable Quotable page.
The quotes:
A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.
Be simple. Be honest. Don't overcook and don't undercook, but it's better to undercook than overcook.
Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.
Grilling, broiling, barbecuing — whatever you want to call it — is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.
The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it.... If you're convinced that cooking is drudgery, you're never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.
The only thing that will make a souffle fall is if it knows you're afraid of it.
All from James Beard, 1903 - 1985
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