A Quote by Ana Claudia Talancon

For me, the food is most excited in ['Top Chef Mexico'], I get to try it all. My mouth waters just thinking about it. — © Ana Claudia Talancon
For me, the food is most excited in ['Top Chef Mexico'], I get to try it all. My mouth waters just thinking about it.
I got involved through the director of the show [Top Chef], he's a director of films in Mexico; I worked with him before. I watched the show in English -many times for many years - and I always loved it. As soon as I heard about having an opportunity to showcase Mexico in a different way, to show a different side of Mexico, that is not violent, that has beautiful colors and delicious food... I didn't think about it twice.
I think the most wonderful thing in the world is another chef. I'm always excited about learning new things about food.
I swear, I didn't really go in thinking, 'I'll be the Simon Cowell' of 'Top Chef.' I was just used to being a judge on British food shows where people are much more outspoken and rather rude. That's the culture over here.
I had a list of about 35 restaurants, 25 of which were fast-food joints all around Los Angeles and I didn't get a quarter through the list. It just became me thinking about going to these places and wanting to enjoy the food and food just not being enjoyable anymore.
Given that level of responsibility with your 25-year old or 35-year-old chef, it's just quite nice to see how they handled that exposure. Not every chef deals with it properly; they get slightly excited, a little bit overconfident and then they miss out on the most important part.
My husband is a vegetarian. So it has really pushed me as a chef. Just thinking about the food that I really relied on as my hunny-hunting foods, that looks different with a vegetarian.
Kids love food. It's about putting materials out there that get kids thinking about food - to get kids interacting about food. It's about simple things, like kids thinking about pasta - getting kids to work with food.
Marcus Samuelsson is a chef who inspires me everyday. He has such a deep understanding of flavors and techniques. His food is representative of the diverse world that we live in. What he has done in Harlem with Red Rooster is very special. Marcus is not just a chef, he's a food activist.
It is great to add some glamour to the food industry, like television shows have done for the food world and inspiring people to work in the industry. The flip side of that is unfortunately people think that after they get their qualifications, they get their invitation to compete on 'Top Chef.
It is great to add some glamour to the food industry, like television shows have done for the food world and inspiring people to work in the industry. The flip side of that is unfortunately people think that after they get their qualifications, they get their invitation to compete on 'Top Chef.'
Since the trade, I was just thinking about this day and mentally preparing to not get too excited. I knew I was going to have some extra adrenalin out there so I was really doing what I needed to do just to stay calm, you know, just try not to do too much.
We have very professional, amazing chefs that are contestants. Most of them have their own restaurants and are settled, recognized chefs in Mexico. That gives the show [Top Chef] a different level completely; the gastronomic level is very high. It makes it all more interesting and the competition is just harder and harder.
Chef means boss and in France you get an office chef and you get a chef on a building site, etc. So I'm a chef de cuisine, chef of the kitchen, and that means that I'm in charge of a team.
If there was ever a food that had politics behind it, it is soul food. Soul food became a symbol of the black power movement in the late 1960s. Chef Marcus Samuelsson, with his soul food restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem, is very clear about what soul food represents. It is a food of memory, a food of labor.
Chefs hate desserts. The smartest thing a chef can do is hire a great pastry chef. Cooking savory food is all about feel - you season something, you taste it, you go back in and adjust, more butter, more olive oil, more acid, whatever you want to get it to taste the way you want. Pastries are like a science project. To me, the greatest chefs are the ones who have the greatest feel for food, while the greatest pastry chefs have to be people that are extremely precise.
I try to get in people's heads. My job is to get the ball, so if I'm talking trash to an O-lineman or quarterback or receiver, and they start thinking about me, that's good, because they aren't thinking about the game anymore.
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