Certainly, cooking for oneself reveals man at his weirdest.

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.

Cooking is like anything else: some people have an inborn talent for it. Some become expert by practicing, and some learn from books.

The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, festivity, safety, and satisfaction. A person cooking is a person giving: Even the simplest food is a gift.

Cooking is like love. You don't have to be particularly beautiful or very glamorous, or even very exciting to fall in love. You just have to be interested in it. It's the same thing with food.

It is my opinion that Norman Rockwell and his ilk have done more to make already anxious people feel guilty than anyone else.