Food & Cooking Quotes to Whet Your Appetite (2024)

If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.

Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don’t forget food. You can go a week without laughing.

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.

The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.

A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.

Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

Age and glasses of wine should never be counted.

You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too. And you’ve got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.

Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.

I don’t know what it is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it’s something that anyone can make – pancakes, meat loaf, tuna salad – but it carries a certain taste of memory.

I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.

All sorrows are less with bread.

I like a cook who smiles out loud when he tastes his own work. Let God worry about your modesty; I want to see your enthusiasm.

My doctor told me I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people.

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.

The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.

You can’t make everyone happy. You’re not pizza.

Every now and then, I’ll run into someone who claims not to like chocolate, and while we live in a country where everyone has the right to eat what they want, I want to say for the record that I don’t trust these people, that I think something is wrong with them, and that they’re probably – and this must be said – total duds in bed.

Always serve too much hot fudge sauce on hot fudge sundaes. It makes people overjoyed, and puts them in your debt.

Real cooking is more about following your heart than following recipes.

The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.

After a full belly, all is poetry.

I snack so my kitchen doesn’t get lonely between meals.

Food is a gift and should be treated reverentially–romanced and ritualized and seasoned with memory.

No man is lonely while eating spaghetti: it requires so much attention.

To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.

The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living.

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?

Cooking and shopping for food brings rhythm and meaning to our lives.

I come from a home where gravy is a beverage.

All worries are less with wine.

Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.

The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.

The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it… If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.

By and large, we’re a bread-eating culture. People like sandwiches. We don’t really over-think that one.

A good piece of chicken can make anybody believe in the existence of God.

When engaged in eating, the brain should be the servant of the stomach.

Ways to My Heart: Buy Me Tacos, Make Me Tacos, Be Tacos.

The trouble with eating Italian is that 5 or 6 days later, you’re hungry again.

If the home is a body, the table is the heart, the beating center, the sustainer of life and health.

Taste every fruit of every tree in the garden at least once. It is an insult to creation not to experience it fully.

I suppose there are people who can pass up free guacamole, but they’re either allergic to avocado or too joyless to live.

There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing.

Never let the seeds stop you from enjoying the watermelon.

The gentle art of gastronomy is a friendly one. It hurdles the language barrier, makes friends among civilized people, and warms the heart.

A good meal soothes the soul as it regenerates the body.

Give me a good sharp knife and a good sharp cheese and I’m a happy man.

One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

I hate the notion of a secret recipe. Recipes are by nature derivative and meant to be shared – that is how they improve, are changed, how new ideas are formed. To stop a recipe in it’s tracks, to label it “secret” just seems mean.

Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.

Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.

Is food a substitute for love? No, love is a substitute for food. And a pretty poor substitute at that.

Chocolate is happiness that you can eat.

The act of feeding someone is the ultimate act of care and affection…sharing yourself with someone else through food.

Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.

I approach cooking from a science angle because I need to understand how things work. If I understand the egg, I can scramble it better. It’s as simple as that.

I don’t care what you Yanks say, cheese should not whiz.

In my food world, there is no fear or guilt, only joy and balance. So no ingredient is ever off-limits. Rather, all of the recipes here follow my Usually-Sometimes-Rarely philosophy. Notice there is no Never.

Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.

Peanut butter is the pate of childhood.

Food brings people together on many different levels. It’s nourishment of the soul and body; it’s truly love.

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.

To me, food is as much about the moment, the occasion, the location and the company as it is about the taste.

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 a part of that.

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

Anyone who’s a chef, who loves food, ultimately knows that all that matters is: ‘Is it good? Does it give pleasure?

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.

My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order.

Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving and identity.

Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks.

Cooking is about passion, so it may look slightly temperamental in a way that it’s too assertive to the naked eye.

Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want.

The secret of food lies in memory – of thinking and then knowing what the taste of cinnamon or steak is.

Life is like a box of chocolates. The more you enjoy it, the fatter you get.

Eating is so intimate. It’s very sensual. When you invite someone to sit at your table and you want to cook for them, you’re inviting a person into your life.

Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything.

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.

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Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of the pieces.

Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people eat together.

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.

Wine is bottled poetry.

Happiness is Homemade

So long as you have food in your mouth you have solved all questions for the time being.

The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating.

I want them to bite into a cookie, think of me, and smile. Food is love. Food has a power. I knew it in my mind, but now I know it in my heart.

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.

Don’t eat till you’re full, eat till you’re tired.

Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake.

The best way to know a city is to eat it.

Eating good food is my favorite thing in the world. Nothing is more blissful.

No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.

When we eat together, when we set out to do so deliberately, life is better, no matter what your circ*mstances.

Some people have nothing good in their life except the food they can eat. And I think for a brief moment that’s all you need to be happy.

The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star.

Breaking bread mindfully is everyday alchemy.

If they have a deep understanding of love, the French have an even deeper understanding of food and when it is to be eaten. That is, precisely when it’s ready.

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.

Food is more than just taste, it can create deep therapeutic changes that heal, energize and nourish the body and the skin.

Sweets, always there, ever faithful, never disappoint.

You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.

Eating may be the most immersive, visceral travel experience. It requires an engagement of every sense… Humans around the world are bound by the necessity and pleasure of eating, and there is no faster way to glimpse the heart of a place than by experiencing its food.

How we allow ourselves to be fed is a metaphor—if ever there was one—for the vibrational quality of what we’re willing to ‘take in’ that goes well beyond the act of filling our bellies. It’s an energetic statement of intent.

Cooking demands attention, patience, and above all, a respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving thanks.

Good food and good love are cultivated the same way – plant a seed in fertile soil, water it, care for it daily, protect it from negative elements and watch it rise up to nourish your body and soul.

Honor yourself enough to take time to prepare something nourishing with love. Sit down without distractions, give thanks to your food, and enjoy it.

Cooking with love provides food for the soul.

Do you ever think about being with someone but realize it’s impossible and then get really sad so you bake a pie instead.

Garlic is to my food what bass guitar is to music.

Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories.

No one became a great cook just by reading the recipes.

If losing weight was easy, we would all be skinny.

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, & the wisdom of cookbook writers.

Every meal should be a small celebration.

You looked into my eyes and said, “I’m going to order you more fries.” That’s when I knew I could fall in love with you.

We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of an opportunity to eat badly.

We realize that food is not just food in its physical expression. It becomes the essence of what it was and what it will become, carrying with it—into our cells, into our sense of selves—the energy that it has been imbued with throughout its journey.

Don’t be afraid of cooking, as your ingredients will know and misbehave. Enjoy your cooking and the food will behave; moreover it will pass your pleasure on to those who eat it.

Cooking is about creating something delicious for someone else.

The stove is the shrine where I convene with my ancestors.

Chefs are nutters. They’re all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls, and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them.

For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place.

Life is like eating a watermelon, you know you’re going to get some seeds; just spit them out and take another bite.

Summer is that time of the year when a man thinks he can cook better outdoors on a grill than any woman can cook indoors using an entire kitchen!

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

Age is of no importance unless you’re a cheese.

Yesterday, I really wanted tacos. Today, I’m eating tacos. Follow your dreams.

I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them, but never the potatoes that went with them.

Feeding people is a way of loving them.

Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.

Clean as you go. Drink while you cook. Make it fun. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It will be what it will be.

I am a sandwich man. Somewhere early in life, my epigenetic switches got flicked to ‘likes sandwiches,’ and that’s where they still are.

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.

I’ve always told my children that life is like a layer cake. You get to put one layer on top of the other, and whether you frost it or not is up to you.

I cook. My favorite thing to make is love.

Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

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.

It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.

The secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

Unless you are a pizza, the answer is yes, I can live without you.

Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.

I’m just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression.

Laughter is brightest where food is best.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

There is no sincerer love than the love of food.

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.

When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat.

After exercising I always eat donuts. Just kidding! I don’t exercise.

Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors—it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.

Life is a combination of magic and pasta.

I want someone to look at me the same way I look at cupcakes.

There is not a good or a bad cuisine, just the one you like the best.

First we eat, then we do everything else.

He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

Cooking is at once one of the simplest and most gratifying of the arts, but to cook well one must love and respect food.

I only drink Champagne on two occasions, when I am in love and when I am not.

If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it’s not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others. It’s the same with music.

The only circle of trust you can truly count on is a donut.

People who love to eat are always the best people.