Cooks are in some ways very much like actors; they must be fit and strong, since acting and cooking are two of the most exacting professions. They must be blessed — or cursed, whichever way you care to look at it — with what is called the artistic temperament, which means that if they are to act or cook at all well, it cannot be for duds or dummies.

A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy (1952)