I have this whole section in my oyster book where I talk about how New Yorkers have gotten divorced from the sea and completely forget that they live by the sea, and I suggest that this happened when they lost their oysters.

Food is the best way to teach history and geography and most everything else.

People in America think of it as a sad and downtrodden place, and I guess it could be, but it's not because that's not who Cubans are. In Cuba, you get a good story every day you go out walking. People are so funny.

Americans are so egocentric.

What you seem to find when you get into this biography business is that people tend to have an image of themselves that they want to project, and they want to color statements by this image.

Before Birdseye, hardly anybody ate frozen food because it was awful.

My most memorable job was on a lobster boat. I was a pretty strong kid, and they just needed someone who could haul pots on 200 ft. of line.

Adults have pretty much made up their minds - they like you to the extent that you confirm what they already believe.

I wrote a children's book because children have the most open minds. They are the people who really want to learn.

Religion is a big problem in Israel and the Arab world, but again, the problem isn't religion but political leaders who want to use the religion.

Don't forget the Vietnam War was brought to us by Democrats.

How you solve your problems are quite different. In non-fiction, you can always go back to the research, whereas in fiction, you have to go back to yourself - which is a little bit scary.

I don't do much research on the Internet.

The invention of gas and electric heaters has not meant the end of fireplaces. Printing did not end penmanship, television did not kill radio, movies did not kill theatre, and home videos did not kill movie theaters, although all these things were falsely predicted.

Chroniclers of the role of paper in history are given to extravagant pronouncements: Architecture would not have been possible without paper. Without paper, there would have been no Renaissance. If there had been no paper, the Industrial Revolution would not have been possible. None of these statements is true.

When you're in theater, you inevitably wind up working in restaurants. I made pastry.

I wanted college to be a real American adventure for me.

The entire trendy foodie world - food writing, food television, celebrated restaurants - is all about food for the rich. But the most important food issue is how to feed the poor or the hardworking middle class.

I always wanted an extraordinary life. When it's over, I want to be able to say that I did it.

I'm friends with Studs Terkel.

I'm usually writing about survival. I never planned it, but it runs through all my books.

I am of that '60s generation, and for people of my age, that phrase 'change the world' has a real resonance.

When Ozzie Virgil became the first Dominican player in the majors, his nationality was barely noticed. What the press and fans talked about was his skin color. He was the first black player on the Detroit Tigers, and a great deal of attention was paid to him as someone who crossed the color line.

Working in a sugar mill is absolute misery for very little money.