You know we fixate on the food so much itself: “Oh, the ultimate brownie or the ultimate this or that” -- well, let me tell you something: It’s all poop in about 12 hours, okay? The real power that food has is its ability to connect human beings to each other -- that’s the stuff right there and, to me, everything else is secondary to that.
Interpretation
Food is not just nourishment; it serves as a means to bring people together.
Alton Brown emphasizes that while we often focus on the culinary aspects and the perfection of food, the true value lies in its power to unite people. The enjoyment of food becomes secondary to the connections it fosters among individuals, highlighting the importance of shared experiences over the mere act of eating.
In practice
During a family gathering, you might quote this to emphasize the importance of togetherness over the meal itself.
The kitchen's a laboratory, and everything that happens there has to do with science. It's biology, chemistry, physics. Yes, there's history. Yes, there's artistry. Yes, to all of that. But what happened there, what actually happens to the food is all science.
Although I don't take myself very seriously, I do take my work extraordinarily seriously.
A home cook who relies too much on a recipe is sort of like a pilot who reads the plane's instruction manual while flying.
Cooking is an observation-based process that you can't do if you're so completely focused on a recipe.
Everything in food is science. The only subjective part is when you eat it.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.
He sometimes wondered if she had become involved with him just so that she could cry in someone's arms. Maybe she can't cry alone, and that's why she needs me.
Parting is inevitably painful, even for a short time. It's like an amputation, I feel a limb is being torn off, without which I shall be unable to function. And yet, once it is done... life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid and fuller than before.
The life of many a person could probably be changed if only someone would make him feel important.
Psychology is as important as substance. If you treat people with respect, they will go out of their way to accommodate you. If you treat them in a patronizing way, they will go out of their way to make your life difficult.
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