James Beard, Passionately — by Jane and Michael Stern

"He is the patriarch of American gastronomy, responsible more than anyone for raising our food consciousness, yet he never took a cooking class in his life. Worse, he's not even solemn about what he does. James Beard has, for all his life, been devoted to the proposition that cooking should be fun."

A little less luxury, by Deborah Hornblow

"As for the future of fine dining, the veteran McKenzie takes the long view. 'It's just like somebody that always has a blue blazer in their wardrobe,' she says. 'They always have it and it's always going to be there. Fine dining will always be there.' She also summons up something James Beard once told her. 'He said, 'You can't hide a good restaurant, no matter what the economy, no matter what the weather,' and I've never forgotten it.'"