New York, July 25, 2007 – Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a professional chef in No Reservations, but she admitted at the New York premiere on Wednesday that she isn’t the chief cook at her own house. “Um, you want the truth? We kind of mix it up a bit. But I must say my husband does a mean breakfast, to the point where my kids think that he doesn’t do anything else but make pancakes”, she said. Hubby is actor Michael Douglas.

The thrill of working in a real restaurant kitchen while shooting the film wore off quickly. “The first few days of shooting the movie, it was like, oh, lovely, let’s get some pasta for lunch. You know, and the chefs would cook me up something to keep me going throughout the day”, Zeta-Jones recalled. “And then by the third day, fourth day, it was like, if I have to smell one more thing, I’m going to throw up.”

But the role did give her new appreciation for dining, as a customer, in restaurants. “I eat fast because I had to; my mother used to give it to the dog otherwise, so I’m always eating fast”, the Oscar winner told us at the Ziegfeld Theater. “And I think, you know what, maybe I should take my time and savor these flavors. Those poor people back there [in the kitchen] have been sweating for me for like 45 minutes.”

After this experience, if she worked at a restaurant, which job would she choose? “I’d be the person who stands welcoming people in and out”, she said, laughing. “It’s hard work back there in the kitchen, let me tell you.”