88 Quotes by Ted Allen

For me, the kitchen is the most special room in the house. It’s a place for adventure – not drudgery, but discovery, sharing and showing off with friends, trying new ideas.

Two words to improve any dish. Ba, Con.

To me, the kitchen is a place of adventure and entirely fun, not drudgery. I can’t think of anything better to do with family and friends than to be together to create something.

Cooking for people is an enormously significant expression of generosity and soulfulness...

Cooking allows you to have travels, adventures and journeys without going anywhere. The running joke between my partner and me is that I’m not really concerned about how long it takes, or how much I destroy the kitchen, because I just have such a good time doing it.

It’s very important to me that people who are actual chefs and other professionals in the culinary world, understand that I’m not, and have never held myself out as being, like a CIA trained chef.

Believe me, I understand the need for easy and speedy. After a 12-hour day of shooting ‘Chopped,’ say, I’m talking stir-fry, spaghetti, heck, peanut-butter sandwiches. But that’s not about the joy of food. That’s survival.

I’m in a loft and the kitchen is in the very center of the apartment. The whole place revolves around it.

I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person, who might be intimidated. I try hard, particularly with wine, to make it not intimidating. It’s sort of a teaching job.