It's important to let children fly on their own. I understood that they needed to create their own life and not be my shadow. Let them make their own decisions, and support them along the way.

Match the right food to the right occasion. Think about what you are celebrating. If you are honoring people, what are their favorite foods? If it is a holiday, what is the food for it? When you give an identity to the party, people appreciate that.

You should just feel comfortable with food and your own culinary culture, whatever your mother and grandmother know.

Julia Child came to my house and wanted a lesson in making risotto.

When I started as a young chef, I was Italian, and I was a woman, and everyone else in New York was French and a man.

What really makes your business is your workers - their commitment, their knowledge, how you train them, how you treat them. They have to make the entity a winning entity.

What I learned being a young child was respect for food. Don't throw anything away.

Chemistry was my college interest. Cooking is about chemistry.

Why do you think millennials are so into food? It's the way they relate to each other.

For me, it's the ultimate to be able to nurture and nourish someone. They trust you. It's a basic form of intimacy in a community.

I was born in Allied-controlled Pola. At the end of World War II, the victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of peace treaties and borders with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland. The Paris Treaty was signed on February 10, 1947. I was born a few days later.

With the Industrial Revolution, the production of food was delegated to big companies in order for women and men to be in the labour force, to come home, stick something in the oven, and eat. It became a big industry that does not have a love affair with food nor is really concerned about nurturing you or giving you the right nutrition.

I attended classes and taught classes, in Food Anthropology at Pace University, with an anthropology professor. You can trace history by the architecture and food of a place. Food is one of those things that transcends and stays in the culture.

When you invite friends over, especially for food, with the food you want to send out a message of affection, of appreciation, of celebration. But also of culture - who your family is.

I love that I've become a mentor, almost like a mother, to all the people out there that love Italian, that love cooking. I seem to make them comfortable.

When we're filming, I sometimes look into the camera and wonder who's out there, who will be watching.

When I first came here, Italian food wasn't anything I recognized. I didn't know what Italian American food was; we never ate it at home. It was the food of immigrants who came here and made use of the ingredients they had.

By cooking with your kids, you can help them understand that food is a powerful tool in connecting human beings.

I was an immigrant. I came here at 12. We were caught behind the Iron Curtain until I was 10.

All of my books have been about authentic Italian food in Italy and bringing that message about simple and authentic food.

Younger generations, they ask more questions, like on a recipe. But they ask them online. If my staff doesn't know how to answer it, I will answer.

Don't accept what a grocery store has for you. Tell the store to get you want you want. If you want honey from a local farmer, organic honey, you tell them. We are in control. It's up to us as the consumer to get what we want.

I see how people connect with me on different level through my show, how they want to transport what I cook into their home kitchens for their own families. It's my responsibility to always make sure that is quality.

I am blessed that the food business is good for me. Good to me.