Do you have a restaurant?
Not any more. But I'd love to design one, menu included. I don't do any professional cooking besides testing the recipes for my books and show, and teaching cooking classes (both in culinary schools and on T.V.)

Do your children like to cook?
They love to cook, especially to bake. But they don't do it very often, because they are so busy doing other things.

What kind of restaurants do you like and what do you order there?
I love ethnic cuisine, especially Asian ones, like Chinese, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Indian. I order soups, vegetables, and tofu in Chinese restaurants; miso soup, noodles, tempura, and sushi in Japanese restaurants, special appetizers, noodles, ginger or papaya salads, soups, and curries in Southeast Asian restaurants, and breads, dals, raita, chai, and vegetable curries in Indian restaurants.

Are you a vegetarian?
I eat small amounts of fish once or twice a month. And several times a year, I'll eat turkey or chicken, if that's the only food available. But good vegetarian food is my favorite and always my first choice. (However, I'd rather eat a nice fish dinner than an unappealing vegetarian one.)

Do you have a big, fancy kitchen with lots of bells and whistles?
I have a small, pretty kitchen, with a 50 year-old dishwasher, a 50 year-old oven, and a modest gas cooktop. I don't have any bells and whistles to speak of, just a good set of knives and a great food processor. What I love about my kitchen is the beautiful view of a canyon and forest outside the windows. Some day I hope to expand the kitchen into a teaching space, but for now, it remains cozy and small.

Did you go to culinary school?
No. I went to art college and got a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting. I worked my way through by cooking in interesting restaurants. That's how I learned - by observing and doing.

How and when did you start cooking?
I started make-believe cooking when I was a toddler, using invisible ingredients, plus grass, flowers, and mud. I started cooking with real food when I was about 8 or 9. My mother and grandmother let me follow them around the kitchen, and I was entranced. I tested and wrote my first recipe when I was 9. It was for a chocolate dessert that leaked out of the oven door and across the floor. My wonderful, patient mother, instead of yelling at me, said, "Well this is certainly original. Let's give it a name." We called it "Creeping Australian BooBoo." Lacking the good sense to be deterred, I went on to write many more recipes over the next 35+ years. Somewhere along the way, I figured out how to have things stay in the oven.

Who does the illustrations for your books?
I do all the illustrations and collaborate on the designs for all of my books.

Why did you handletter "Moosewood Cookbook" and "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest," and why did you have the more recent books typeset?
I handlettered my earlier books because that was how I wrote everything. I didn't own a typewriter or a computer. In a way these books were similar to, and extensions of, my personal journals. I stopped handlettering when working on Still Life with Menu, as I started illustrating my books with full-color, full-composition pictures. The handlettering no longer fit the design, and by that time I had acquired a computer and learned to type. When I revised Moosewood and Broccoli in the 90s, I did completely new handlettering for each book. It's slow, hard work and it strains my hand, back, and eyes. I just found I didn't enjoy it anymore. Now that I use typesetting, I can produce cookbooks more often.

When testing recipes, do you "experiment" on family and friends?
Actually, no. Testing recipes is very precise and clinical, and I only solicit feedback from carefully selected assistants, who are highly skilled culinary professionals. Since taste is personal and subjective, I have to know well the palate of people who give their opinions. But I do feed family and friends the results, I just don't consult with them.

What do you tell parents whose children decide to become vegetarians?
Be sure your children get a wide variety of foods, so their nutritional needs can be met. Many children who give up meat end up eating a lot of pizza, bagels, and nachos. Make sure your kids get a good amount of protein, from beans, nuts and nut butters, whole grains, tofu burgers, eggs, and cheese.

What advice would you give a young person who is interested in a food career?
Read as many cookbooks and food publications as possible. Immerse yourself in the material! Peruse food markets, and save your money to have occasional restaurant meals in good places. Ask questions of experienced cooks. Get a job prepping in a restaurant that makes the kind of food you like. And above all, experiment with your own ideas in the kitchen. You might not need to go to culinary school if you do all the above. On the other hand, culinary school, if you can afford it, might be the way to go. Visit one, and see what it's like.

How do you come up with your recipe ideas?
It's hard to describe the process. I often get my ideas from going to the market and looking for the freshest, most interesting ingredients. Certain taste combinations make "sensual sense", and after decades of cooking, I have a feeling for what they are. By the time I am actually in the kitchen testing an idea, I have thought it through pretty well. I usually have a list of the ingredients I think I am going to add. But I taste as I go, and as soon as it tastes good, I stop, even if I'm only part-way down that list. It's part instinct, part logic, and part inspiration.

Are your friends too intimidated to cook for you?
I've never had a close friend be self-conscious about preparing a meal for me. We are always so glad to see each other, that we just focus on the visit. And really, I'm not a food snob at all. But acquaintances who are not yet close friends tend to be intimidated, so I don't get a lot of invitations. Oh well.