Food is nutrition, power, love, culture, family, and more. Flavors have the power to move us emotionally, to conjure up distant memories, and to express our creativity and care for each other. Food and its growing and preparation are literally the foundation of human civilization. No matter what moment in time we dwell or however humble or lavish our address, we must eat. Our menus may differ depending on where we live, our beliefs, or our budgets, but food unites us.
I’ve assembled the following 25 quotes about food from a range of people and places. As you read through this list consider how they fit into your life, your experiences, and your beliefs. Which resonate most with you? What do you believe about food?
*People who love to eat are always the best people. –Julia Child
*You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food. –Paul Prudhomme
*To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art. –François de la Rochefoucauld
*If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…the people who give you their food give you their heart. –Cesar Chavez
*Laughter is brightest where food is best. –Irish Proverb
*One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one not has not dined well. –Virginia Woolf
*If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. ― J.R.R. Tolkien
*Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. ― Hippocrates
*When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. ― Dom Helder Camara
*Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love. ― Craig Claiborne
*It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. –MFK Fisher
*The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star. ― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
*Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. –Ernestine Ulmer
*For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love? ― Michael Pollan,
*Food is our common ground, a shared experience. –James Beard
*A paring knife can be as creative as a paintbrush. Scraping, slicing, shredding, stirring, simmering, sauteing are all sleights of hand that switch your conscious mind onto artistic, automatic pilot. –Sara Ban Breathnach
*Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it’s a start. –Anthony Bourdain
*The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. –Norman Borlaug
*Food history is as important as a baroque church. Governments should recognize cultural heritage and protect traditional foods. A cheese is as worthy of preserving as a sixteenth century building. –Carlo Petrini
*[Food] gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do. –Ron Finley
*Every child, woman, and man has a right to enough nutritious food for an active and healthy life. –Ban Ki-Moon
*Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy. –Frances Moore Lappe
*The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. –Masanobu Fukuoka
*If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger. –Buzz Aldrin
*As a culture if all we did was rediscover our kitchens and quit buying prepared foods, it would fundamentally change the industrial food system. –Joel Salatin
If you enjoyed this post, check out my post Teach: Why We Need to Teach About Food.
Thanks for reading and happy eating!
Christine
