There has clearly been an enormous, revolutionary change in American thinking about food. I think the changes are in many ways a foil for changes in American demographics and the way we live and fly and drive, from the way we deal with immigrants to the way we feed our kids in schools.

The revolution is mainly occurring in the back of the house and not the front of the house. For the front of the house, there’s virtually no training available, and no celebrity. Mention that your son or daughter works at Keller’s restaurant as a maitre d’ and people will assume he is an actor or student putting himself through school. The implication is you did not have enough money to take care of him.

Do you think the popularity of food critic Ruth Reichl’s books or the Julie/Julia project from Julie Powell reflect the public’s newfound sophistication about food?

It is hard to say chicken or egg. Julia Child generated enormous interest and self confidence. The most memorable thing she ever did was drop a leg of lamb on the floor, pick it up, wipe it off against her apron and stick it in the oven saying any germs will be eradicated by the heat. Here was this big, kind of awkward lady who made people feel if she can do it, they can do it.

The things that are really driving today’s interest in food are very fundamental to the nature of our society. They have to do with television, with the fact that women work increasingly, so from Monday to Friday there is nobody around to prepare, to shop, cook and clean. The vast majority of new restaurants are what we call BATH restaurants (better alternative to home). They are casual, they have homey/hearty food and they provide it more cheaply than you could if you made the same thing.

It has to do with immigration shifts, with the fact the tax law favors eating out over eating at home. If you work beyond a certain time, most professional employers do not pay overtime, they provide dinner. That is inexpensive relative to the value of their employees’ work.

Are BATH restaurants part of the move away from traditional French restaurants, many of which have closed in recent years?

Bath restaurants represent probably 75 percent of the restaurants in America other than fast food, so it is a phenomenon. The immigrant pool coming here has been influenced by Asian cooking techniques. Modern French cooking, too, has been influenced by Asian cooking techniques.