Marian Burros

For a four star restaurant it is very important. It could keep a restaurant from achieving four stars. For a three star restaurant, somewhat less. I don't think it would take a three star down to a two star. Having said that, keep in mind that it's my opinion and I'm only doing this gig for a short time, until they find a permanent critic. I could conceive of a Thai restaurant so good it might get three stars, but not that many wines go well with Thai food. So the list could be fairly short; all it would have to be is appropriate

In the U.S., as well as all imported cheese to this country, all raw milk cheese must be aged a certain number of days so in that sense there is no raw milk cheese so I can't say I know any.

Honestly, though I like some cuisines morethan others, I like them all and would have no trouble reviewing any so I have never not reviewed because of such prejudices

Thank you and... As I was told when I went to work at a newsaper, you can't help your biases; you just have to be fair. I think that applies to restaurants, too. That's why I said in the Casa Mono review that the anchovies were good for anchovies; I just don't like them. Of course I can't help but hear the buzz about a place, but honestly, after all these years of reviewing off and on, I did in it 1983-84 as my full time job fo the Times, I'm not swayed by the the buzz, anymore than I am swayed by the people who come with me when I go t review, whether they lvoe something or hate something. I trust my own tastebuds. That makes some people think I'm hyper critical. Ce la vie!

I don't think at all there is a disconnect. So many chefs are now doing the simplest things - think Craft - as well as the few who really like to play with their food. In the end I would say that you judge whether it works or not based on how it taste. There's one new restaurant in New York where the chef plays with his food so much that it is cold when it gets to the table and it has no flavor. The dishes are more a set piece than for eating Others, like Michel Richard at Citronelle in Washinton, are unbelievably creative, but to him, the most important thing is how it tastes. He's a genius. When this creativity works I see nothing wrong with it but I think you probably already know that all the creativity at El Buli doesn't.

Too many to count: Making tapioca pudding when my mother went out and I was home alone. An early latch key child. My father died when I was five. I'd make a recipe of it and eat all of it by myself. I still love it and have a recipe for it in my latest book. Spaghetti and meat sauce leftovers for breakfast on Thursday mornings. My mother always made it for dinner Wednesday night and there was always a little leftover. Learning how to use the pressure cooker before my mother because it came when I got home from school and she wasn't home from work yet and then teaching her how to use it. Making beef goulash in it. Going with my mother to buy corn from the farmer just outside of the city where I grew up - Waterbury, Conn. We always went late in the afternoon to get the second picking. As soon as we got home it went right into the pot. Cooking with my aunt in Boston. And then there are a few I don't remember so fondly: plucking hte pin feathers off the chicken before my mother cooked it. I was sort of her brigade and did the mis en place.

Oh, I hope it has a lasting impact. I think it is a brilliant idea and one that is necessary as we lose more and more varieities to commercializaiton. One of the stories that I am proudest of is the one I did a couple of years ago at Thanksgiving about heritage turkeys that Slow Foods is trying to save, helping to increase sales of them dramatically. Last year and this past Thanksgiving we had heritage turkeys for the holiday. You can't imagine how much better they are, even though they are expensive.

I certainly hope the Food and Drug Administration does not ban the unpasteurized cheeses from this country. They've been talking about it Maybe women who are pregnant shouldn't eat them because if there is a problem it could ahve an effect on unborn children. Otherwise, we all decide which risks we are willing to take and which we won't. Raw milk cheese is one of those risks I take, along with raw oysters and raw fish. On the other hand I won't eat a hamburger for which I haven't ground the meat myself or watched someone do it. Does this make sense; probably not. Food safety in the U.S. is in dire need of a change in philosophy. The Europeans believe in the precautionary principle: if something might go wrong, let's not take a chance; Americans believe we should wait to see what happens: if something goes wrong, we'll clean it up after. what's the harm in being careful in advance. Do we really need to irradiated ground beef for school lunches? Wouldn't it be better to clean up the way cattle are raised, slaughtered and processed, or barring that, cooking the meat long enough to kill the bacteria

I guess I better defend myself. No, I don't eat brains and haven't for many years. I used to liike them very much .Maybe a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I worry about calves brains and other parts of their tete in this day and age. When people started eating calves brains, tete de veau, etc, etc., we didn't have something called mad cow disease. I make no apologies. As for the other items, I've eaten all of them at one time or another, decided I don't really care for them and saw no reason to eat something I don't like to begin with. What good could I say about it. As it is I ate the anchovies even though they are not a favorite of mine, wondering if the rendition would make me like them more. Please lighten up Mr. Bourdain and, if you get a chance, take a look to see how my name is spelled.

I would love to take credit for the recipe, but I can't. I made a few small changes in it but it was a contribution to the first cookbook I wrote, Elegant But Easy, of my co-author, Los Levine. It was not her recipe either and I'm not sure where it came from. What I did do is promote it in the Times for many years and put it in at least three of my cookbooks, including the latest, Cooking for Comfort. I think it is beloved because it is so easy and so delicious. I once made 24 at one time and put them in a friend's freezer for the winter. She went on vacation; her mother came to take care of her children and when she returned home she called and asked me how many I had put in the freezer. "24 and 2 were for your.'' Long silence. My mother must have loved them. There are only xx left. Tday I can't remember whether there were only 12 left or less. It wouldn't be a bad thing to be remembered for!

I am a great fan of Madeleine Kamman, a brilliant cook, writer and teacher. Her books always tell me something new and have for years. And I love Marion Cunningham for her no nonsense, down to earth style and recipes that never fail. Of course I admire Julia Child. I am also in awe of someone who is not a food writer in the sense we are talking here: Marion Nestle, who has wrestled all the complicated things about food to the ground and written two excellent books about the influences on food in this country. I know if I thought a lot longer I could come up with more. I'm sure I have left someone out.

As much as I love food and its romance, I wish we did more about the down side of our food supply, its safety or lack of it, its degredation at the hands of agribusiness. Because, in the end, what happens to the larger world of food has a big impact on those of us who care deeply about food and are willing to spend the extra money and time it takes to produce it. I wish we could do more to promote local growers, for example, doing taste tests of locally grown food compared with supermarket availability. And I wish we had enough time and staff so that we didn't reprint press releases. I think some of these subjects are very complex and require some background and I certainly think some of them are not particularly sexy but, you must admit, the reporters writing about mad cow right now are getting quite a ride. Having said that, we have certainly come a long way since the days when Craig Claiborne could include canned gravy in a recipe and no one blinked an eye. We are certain more discriminating and more sophisticated.