Culinary Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old culinary quotes, culinary sayings, and culinary proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last. Francois Minot
One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. Luciano Pavarotti
A good kitchen should be sufficiently remote from the principal apartments of the house, that the members, visitors, or guests of the family, may not perceive the odour incident to cooking, or hear the noise of culinary operations. Isabella Beeton
Cooking is so popular today because it's the perfect mix of food and fun. Emeril Lagasse
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. Harriet Van Horne
People want honest, flavourful food, not some show-off meal that takes days to prepare. Ted Allen
The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living. Dione Lucas
The chef that grew up with the grandma who cooks tends to always beat the chef that went to the culinary institute. It's in the blood. Gary Vaynerchuk
Cooking well doesn't mean cooking fancy. Julia Child
Ingredients are not sacred. The art of cuisine is sacred. Tanith Tyrr
Craving is a good thing.In matters of culinary art, craving creates wonders. Andy Paula
But the goal of the arts, culinary or otherwise, is not to increase our comfort. That is the goal of an easy chair. Jeffrey Steingarten
A culinary triumph: the ingenious use of food as an offensive weapon. James Hamilton Paterson
You cannot get an influence from the cuisine of a country if you don't understand it. You've got to study it. Ferran Adria
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Virginia Woolf
At culinary school, none of the things we use to define ourselves outside that world - actor, producer, student - none of that matters. It's a magical art form. Eric Christian Olsen
After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives. Oscar Wilde
Even just a few spices or ethnic condiments that you can keep in your pantry can turn your mundane dishes into a culinary masterpiece. Marcus Samuelsson
Cookery is a wholly unselfish art: All good cooks, like all great artists, must have an audience worth cooking for. Andre Simon
Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all. Harriet Van Horne
A man who loves good food has a way of making it gravitate toward his kitchen. Angelo Pellegrini
When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste. Laiko Bahrs
Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. Mark Twain
A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. Elsa Schiaparelli
Culinary tradition is not always based on fact. Sometimes it's based on history, on habits that come out of a time when kitchens were fueled by charcoal. Alton Brown
Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the techniques and materials. Nathan Myhrvold
No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing. Julia Child
Great cooking is about being inspired by the simple things around you fresh markets, various spices. It doesn't necessarily have to look fancy. G. Garvin
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. Judith B. Jones
Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements. Marcel Boulestin
Secrets, especially with cooking, are best shared so that the cuisine lives on. Bo Songvisava
The kitchen's a laboratory, and everything that happens there has to do with science. It's biology, chemistry, physics. Yes, there's history. Yes, there's artistry. Yes, to all of that. But what happened there, what actually happens to the food is all science. Alton Brown
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 a simple as that. Alton Brown
Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself. Anthony Bourdain
Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get go. Anthony Bourdain
Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself. Anthony Bourdain
Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go. Anthony Bourdain
The way you make an omelet reveals your character. Anthony Bourdain
in the abstract art of cooking, ingredients trump appliances, passion supersedes expertise, creativity triumphs over technique, spontaneity inspires invention, and wine makes even the worst culinary disaster taste delicious. Bob Blumer
Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love. Craig Claiborne
Cooking is at once one of the simplest and most gratifying of the arts, but to cook well one must love and respect food. Craig Claiborne
Remember, it is never the knife's fault. Daniel Boulud
Cooking is not a mystery. Edward Espe Brown
Chefs don't make mistakes, they make new dishes. Elizabeth Briggs
There is not a good or a bad cuisine, just the one you like the best. Ferran Adria
To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Cooking is not difficult. Everyone has taste, even if they don’t realize it. Even if you’re not a great chef, there’s nothing to stop you understanding the difference between what tastes good and what doesn’t. Gerard Depardieu
Invest in what’s real. 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. Gwyneth Paltrow
I want them to bite into a cookie, and 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. Jael McHenry
This is my advice to people. Learn how to cook, try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun. Julia Child
The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude. Julia Child
You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces, just good food from fresh ingredients. Julia Child
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. Laurie Colwin
No rules. Don't be afraid to do whatever you want. Cooking doesn't have to have rules. I don't like it that way. Masaharu Morimoto
Great food needed more than chefs; it needed gourmet diners. Nicole Mones
Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way. Paul Theroux
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. Wolfgang Puck
A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe. Thomas Keller
I learned more from the one restaurant that didn't work than from all the ones that were successes. Wolfgang Puck
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. Will.I.Am
For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place. Wolfgang Puck