Top 35 Ted Allen Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “I’m a home cook and love to read about food, but I’m not trained as a chef. I’m just really into cooking and passionate about it.”

— Ted Allen

2. “I am much more interested in the process than results.”

— Ted Allen

3. “What I bring to the table is a huge enthusiasm and love for this stuff.”

— Ted Allen

4. “People want honest, flavourful food, not some show-off meal that takes days to prepare.”

— Ted Allen

5. “Jay Leno is not a guy who likes change. He eats the same food every day.”

— Ted Allen

6. “Sesame oil is probably my favorite condiment, period.”

— Ted Allen

7. “Well, we don’t take money from people and then show the product. It has to be a product that we like anyway, and that’s true for all five of us, which is one of the really nice things about the way we make the show.”

— Ted Allen

8. “Planning a dinner party in a way that you’re actually capable of getting it done without panicking is important. It’s bad hospitality for the host to be freaked out.”

— Ted Allen

9. “Two words to improve any dish. Ba, Con.”

— Ted Allen

10. “If I have committed any culinary atrocities, please forgive me.”

— Ted Allen

11. “For each episode the five of us are all wearing clothes by the same designer. It’s a different designer for each episode, but for each one we’re all wearing their clothes.”

— Ted Allen

12. “Buying stock is exactly the same thing as going to a casino, only with no cocktail service.”

— Ted Allen

13. “When I come home from a shoot, I’d rather reheat food I’ve made than eat takeout.”

— Ted Allen

14. “Cooking for people is an enormously significant expression of generosity and soulfulness...”

— Ted Allen

15. “Believe me, I understand the need for easy and speedy. After a 12-hour day of shooting ‘Chopped,’ say, I’m talking stir-fry, spaghetti, heck, peanut-butter sandwiches. But that’s not about the joy of food. That’s survival.”

— Ted Allen

16. “My place in Chicago is a 105 year old house, but I really like contemporary spaces too, so it’s refreshing and fun to be in a space where you can do contemporary things.”

— Ted Allen

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17. “The best way to learn is live, in person, cooking, feeling, smelling and tasting, but TV is the second-best thing to that; it’s a halfway facsimile.”

— Ted Allen

18. “To me, the kitchen is a place of adventure and entirely fun, not drudgery. I can’t think of anything better to do with family and friends than to be together to create something.”

— Ted Allen

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19. “You know the great irony is that people think you have to have money to enjoy fine food, which is a shame.”

— Ted Allen

20. “I like to have friends in the kitchen and make a big mess and use every pot in the kitchen.”

— Ted Allen

21. “It’s very important to me that people who are actual chefs and other professionals in the culinary world, understand that I’m not, and have never held myself out as being, like a CIA trained chef.”

— Ted Allen

22. “I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person, who might be intimidated. I try hard, particularly with wine, to make it not intimidating. It’s sort of a teaching job.”

— Ted Allen

23. “I think that curiosity happened on these reviews where I was just a guest of the reviewer, because it introduced me to new cuisines and to the idea of cooking as a mechanism for studying other cultures and understanding other parts of the world.”

— Ted Allen

24. “One of the smartest things you can do on ‘Chopped’ is to take one of those ingredients and make a pickle out of it, because almost every dish benefits from that. I’m feeling like those intuitions are becoming more natural.”

— Ted Allen

25. “However, I was a restaurant critic at Chicago magazine before I worked at Esquire, and I’ve been a really enthusiastic home cook for a long time. It’s just something I’m passionate about.”

— Ted Allen

26. “I’m in a loft and the kitchen is in the very center of the apartment. The whole place revolves around it.”

— Ted Allen

27. “In recent years, I’ve been writing because I’m fortunate enough to work in the world of food television, to travel and taste and learn about cooking from the best chefs in the business.”

— Ted Allen

28. “It’s okay if you finish cooking something easy after your guests arrive – some dishes must be prepared a la minute, as chefs say. Just remember to keep talking.”

— Ted Allen

29. “Because the show is popular, people do recognize us on the streets.”

— Ted Allen

30. “For me, the kitchen is the most special room in the house. It’s a place for adventure – not drudgery, but discovery, sharing and showing off with friends, trying new ideas.”

— Ted Allen

31. “The world is full of people who would like nothing better than to spend six hours on a golf course. I would rather be chopping shallots.”

— Ted Allen

32. “I’m really trying to respond to the foods that are in the stores and just pulling the things that are the very best and cook what looks beautiful and is seasonal. That’s the way to go. I love going to the grocery store and the market. None of it’s drudgery for me. Washing dishes is the drudgery.”

— Ted Allen

33. “Cooking allows you to have travels, adventures and journeys without going anywhere. The running joke between my partner and me is that I’m not really concerned about how long it takes, or how much I destroy the kitchen, because I just have such a good time doing it.”

— Ted Allen

34. “The great mystery to me is how restaurant critics think they can get away with doing their job without anybody noticing who they are.”

— Ted Allen

35. “I went in saying I wanted to be the food guy.”

— Ted Allen

36. “I really have a great deal of humility in that department, and a great deal of respect for people who spend their lives learning how to make these amazing preparations.”

— Ted Allen

37. “I had a really good time with Martha Stewart, who also is somebody I really admire a lot. I’ve learned a lot from her and I think all of America has, about attention to detail and using fresh ingredients and making things beautiful and special.”

— Ted Allen

38. “Oh, did I tell you I have a cookbook? I have a cookbook deal.”

— Ted Allen