I don't think there's one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner.

- Ruth Reichl

World War II really fascinated me because it's the only time that everybody in this country sat down at the same table, because eating on rations was your patriotic duty.

- Ruth Reichl

The first time you make something, follow the recipe, then figure out how to tailor it to your own tastes.

- Ruth Reichl

My kitchen was built for my body. It forms a 'U' in the middle of the living room and dining room. It's not huge, because I don't like huge kitchens.

- Ruth Reichl

The hardest part of cooking is shopping, and if you organize yourself and shop once a week, you're halfway there.

- Ruth Reichl

My idea of management is that what your job is as the boss is to find really good people and empower them and leave them alone.

- Ruth Reichl

I meet people, and we can get past small talk pretty quickly if they've read my books. It's a great shortcut.

- Ruth Reichl

If we make it national policy that we will support small farmers the way we support agribusiness, we'll suddenly see it change in terms of the cost of organic food.

- Ruth Reichl

I bake bread nearly every day; I use Jim Lahey's no-knead method and leave it to rise overnight.

- Ruth Reichl

My mother started out by being a very good girl. She did everything that was expected of her, and it cost her dearly. Late in her life, she was furious that she had not followed her own heart; she thought that it had ruined her life, and I think she was right.

- Ruth Reichl

I like to work. I believe that work helps us find our self worth.

- Ruth Reichl

The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things. I'm interested in happiness.

- Ruth Reichl

For me, cooking is a way to try and please people and tell them I love them. When I fall in love with someone, I want to feed them as well.

- Ruth Reichl

You can be a decent critic if you know about food, but to be a really good one, you need to know about life.

- Ruth Reichl

It takes a great deal of strength to be an optimist.

- Ruth Reichl

In really good times, you say, 'No, I'm not taking that ad.' But in bad times, you'll take anything.

- Ruth Reichl

If you really taste a doughnut, it's pretty disgusting. They taste of grease.

- Ruth Reichl

Ask people to pitch in - hand them a spoon and ask them to stir. Doing things together, having everyone help, makes for a nicer party.

- Ruth Reichl

Anyone who has ever been an ugly adolescent - and we are legion - knows that the feeling of being unlovely and unlovable never goes away; it is always there, lurking just beneath the surface.

- Ruth Reichl

If you have caviar, the way to eat it is by the spoonful. Don't combine it with shrimp, pomegranate seeds and huitlacoche.

- Ruth Reichl