Quotes By Emeril Lagasse

We'll be going to the fish market and a farmer's market this afternoon to get what we need to make and eat dinner as a family. I'm trying to expose my kids to going to a farmers market or the fish market and learning what that's all about.

A lot of parents ask me how to get kids to eat more vegetables. The first thing I say is that it starts from the top.

We began building this incredible new foundation in this restaurant, and that's what began giving me the left-hand side of tradition and the right-hand side, my new palate.

My office in New York is overflowing with all kinds of cookbooks, and in New Orleans we have a huge culinary library. So yeah, I guess I'm a little bit obsessed.

I respected it. I submerged myself into it. So on a lot of days off I would go and fish with the fishermen and the families that ran the boats. I would go work the fields with farmers. I would go and talk with farmers about growing particular products for me.

When I want to kick it up, I like to add hardwood chips or chunks to the grill; it adds bold smoky flavors. The most common woods are hickory and mesquite, but you can find alder, apple, cherry and, my personal favorite, pecan.

My inspiration was my mom. She's a great cook, and she still cooks, and we still banter back and forth about cooking. Growing up in a mostly Portuguese community, food was important and the family table was extremely important. At a very young age I understood that.

I came here because the city has a tradition and is a very respected food city.

Scatter soaked hardwood chunks over your coals for a quick and easy way to add a smoky nuance to your grilled foods.

When I first decided to open a restaurant, I was turned down by several banks. It was the late 80's and many restaurants were failing. I refused to give up because I knew I had a good concept.

I don't limit myself.

Cleanliness is very important. If you let kids make a total mess in the kitchen and then leave, you're not really teaching them anything.

Being a food show and being me, I always kicked it up a notch, which means I would always elevate the spice level or the complexity of a particular dish. So, it was always like we're going to kick this up a little bit.

I spent a lot of time on farms when I was young. My uncle and my dad owned a big farm.

I can't tell you enough about cinnamon. Cinnamon is an awesome spice to use and it goes great with something like apples in the morning or in a mixture of fruit or in your oatmeal or even in your cereal.

Life just doesn't hand you things. You have to get out there and make things happen. that's the exciting part.

You have to be cautious of eating continuously the same thing. Beef comes to mind right away, and there's nothing wrong with beef, but you've got to do whatever you're doing in moderation. So try to break it up a little bit. Eat some fish or some shellfish at least a couple of times a week.

Whether it's books or TV, or whatever the case may be, the backbone of what I do is my restaurants.

My food is Louisiana, New Orleans-based, well-seasoned, rustic. I think it's pretty unique because of my background being influenced by my mom, Portuguese and French Canadian. There's a lot going on there.

I've always done food that can work in a set time frame. The message I'm trying to get across is, it doesn't have to take three days to do this. With planning, you can do a lot and really have quality food every day.

You gotta have good olive oil. You should have a cooking olive oil and you should have a finishing olive oil, like an extra-virgin olive oil.

My family... always had the value of the family table and these cultural influences of growing up.

Soups are a great way to introduce a lot of vegetables to kids. Stir-fries, too, because they contain so many different shapes and colors.

Growing up in New England, being schooled and classically trained, it needed to shake, it needed to evolve.

The premise of 'The Originals' are places that have been open 50, 60, 75, 100 years or longer that are still doing it right that maybe a lot of people, particularly the younger generations, have not even thought about.

I grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts. My background was modest, and I worked at a Portuguese bakery in town.

I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school.

I wouldn't ask any of my employees to do anything I wouldn't do. And I work as hard, if not harder than the rest of the staff, to set an example. I also believe in giving my employees a lot of room to be creative and to express themselves.

I'm pretty actively involved with the military because I think they're incredible human beings. If I can give back to them for what they're doing for us, it's a good thing. And I think to have happy soldiers, you need to feed them well.

I launched The Emeril Lagasse Foundation to provide culinary training, and developmental and educational programs to children in the cities where my restaurants operate. I think everyone has a responsibility to give back to the community if they can, and to help future generations learn new skills.