Through tongue and pen, people have shared their thoughts and obsessions about food for centuries. The narrators have included everyone from notable chefs and writers to musicians, moviemakers, entertainers, politicians and doctors with a knack for proverbs.
Some of the quotes we’ve unearthed are pithy and self-indulgent. Others are humorous and blunt. In any case, they’ve taken their seats in the annals of culinary history for our literary consumption.
“Too few people understand a really good sandwich.” – American chef, author, and host of a 1940s television food show James Beard
“Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.” Italian actress Sophia Loren
“It’s okay to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.” – 90s grunge rocker Kurt Cobain
“What you find at the end of your fork is more powerful than anything you’ll find at the bottom of a pill bottle.” – Physician, author, and nutrition guru Mark Hyman
“We all mourn in our own way. I mourn with a great steak.” – Comedienne, writer and producer Joan Rivers
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” – Actor, director, screenwriter Orson Welles
“Soup is just a way of screwing you out of a meal.” —Talk show host Jay Leno
“In victory you deserve champagne. In defeat you need it.” – French emperor and military general Napoleon Bonaparte
“The hard part of overdosing on cherries is that you have all the pits to tell you exactly how many you ate. Not more or less. Exactly.” – Pop artist Andy Warhol
“My weaknesses have always been food and men—in that order.” – Singer, songwriter and actress Dolly Parton
“I realized very early the power of food to evoke memory, to bring people together, to transport you to other places, and I wanted to be part of that.” – Jose Andres, acclaimed Spanish-American chef and founder of World Central Kitchen
“Hot dogs and Red Vines and potato chips and French fries are my favorite foods.” – Actress Betty White
“After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives” and “I can’t stand people who don’t take food seriously.” – Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (pictured in the lead photo)
“I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.” – W. C. Fields
I eat cake because it’s somebody’s birthday somewhere.
These are brilliant & thought provoking. I’m with Sophia Loren!