Mark Kurlansky Quotes

Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture.

A gourmet knows that the best part is not always the expensive part, and he will find that part, and then he will share it. A gourmet should want to share.

The egg creams of Avenue A in New York and the root beer float....are among the high points of American gastronomic inventiveness.

If ever there was a fish made to endure, it is the Atlantic cod... But it has among its predators - man, an openmouthed species greedier than cod.

Judging foods without regard to price is a rich mans game, and yet poor people can be gourmets able to discern a good potato from a bad one.

In nineteenth-century Russia, sauerkraut was valued more than caviar.

Fate likes to tease paranoids.'

I did not realize at the time, as I have discovered since, that anyone who attempts any thing original in this world must expect a bit of ridicule. Clarence Birdseye

modern people have seen too many chemicals and are ready to go back to eating dirt.

The history of the Americas is one of constant warfare over salt.

THE ROMANS SALTED their greens, believing this to counteract the natural bitterness, which is the origin of the word salad, salted.

A true gourmet - a judge - has the wisdom to know when to stop eating.

In spite of muzzling the press, imprisoning thousands, and engaging in torture, kidnapping and murder, the Socialist government was still vulnerable to the accusation of being "soft on Basques.

In 'The Republic' he [Plato] states that the enjoyment of food is not a true pleasure because the purpose of eating is to relieve pain - hunger.

A Wedding In Haiti is a great experience and its unaffected prose is as true a portrait of complex Haiti as you will find.

Nature, the ultimate pragmatist, doggedly searches for something that works. But as the cockroach demonstrates, what works best in nature does not always appeal to us.

I did not realize at the time, as I have discovered since, that anyone who attempts any thing original in this world must expect a bit of ridicule." Clarence Birdseye

Children need fairy tales, but it is just as essential that they have parents who tell them about their own lives, so that they can establish a relationship to the past.

A modern revolutionary group, explained Abbie Hoffman, headed for the television station, not the factory.

Don't you sense the enormity of your mistake – you invade a country without understanding its music. – Norman Mailer

Even creative nonviolence can go unnoticed unless participants are attacked.

One of humankind's most enduring misconceptions is that of nature's bounty... the belief that nature is such a powerful force that it is indestructible.

Gen. de Gaulle is only concerned about history, and no jury can dictate the judgment of history." Georges Pompidou

It is always easier to promote war than peace, easier to end the peace than end the war, because peace is fragile and war is durable.