My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now and we don't know where the hell she is.

Ray Bradbury is for many reasons the most influential writer in my life. Throughout our long friendship Ray supplied not only his terrific stories but a grand model of what a writer could be should be and yet rarely is: brilliant and charming and accessible willing to tolerate and to teach happy to inspire but also to be inspired.

I think there is a heritage which I'm proud of which is a fight for democracy a fight for social justice a fight for freedom. My grandfather went to jail or exile six times in his life fighting for his principles for democracy or for his country. And my father twice.

My view is that good community management is like having good municipal government: You should be able to have dissenting opinions and so on freedom of speech but your grandmother should also be able to walk down the street at night without having to worry about getting mugged.

In France today people no longer eat as much heavy food and fat as they did 15 or 20 years ago. These days French cooking through the influence of 'grande cuisine ' has become a bit lighter. And we are beginning to discover the original flavors of our produce.

You don't have to look far to taste some of the best food the world has to offer. I'd pit my grandmother against a 3-star Michelin chef any day.

First I would probably place men at the bottom of the food chain. On a grander scale I would say they're reacting to change. Feminism has got to be part of that.

My grandmother was the greatest cook in the world. She could just go in there the whole kitchen would look like a tornado hit it and then she'd come out with the best food. Then she'd sit at the table and she wouldn't eat!

My grandfather gave me inspiration to cook and love food and flavors. My Aunt Raffie gave me creativity and the inspiration to create new things. My mother inspires me to find simplicity in food.

Food was always a big part of my life. My grandfather was one of 14 kids and his parents had a pasta factory so as a kid he and his siblings would sell pasta door to door. After he became a movie producer he opened up De Laurentiis Food Stores - one in Los Angeles and one in New York.