Food Quotations

[fruglescot]

I wonder if the "HOUNDS" could offer up some inspiring and unique food quotations this Christmas Day especially for us bachelors and childless adults at home. Bored!

Let me start with the old adage that............ " Man can not live by bread alone"

I'm sure everyone here at Chowhound can agree with that but maybe we could make them
more controversial as well.

[Motosport]

My favorite and I use it often"
"Not that food is important to me!"

[ferventfoodie]

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food" - George Bernard Shaw

[greygarious]

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup. - Ludwig van Beethoven

[sd4life]

"Wishing you best dishes from my kitchen to yers". Paula Dean

[maria lorraine]

Hunger is a tasty sauce.

[alanbarnes]

I'll be your Sancho Panza.

[maria lorraine]

Then I may burst into song.

[alkapal]

after finding hilda had marked his gin bottle, rumpole exclaims, "an englishman's gin bottle is his castle!"

-- Rumpole and the Married Lady

[margshep]

Sign on a Vancouver butcher shop from many many years ago. Don't know if it's still there.

"What food these morsels be"

[carswell]

The butcher may have got it from Irma Rombauer, author of the original Joy of Cooking. The intro to the book's sweetbread recipes reads: "To paraphrase Puck: 'What foods these morsels be." Of course, depending on how many, many years ago it was, Rombaurer may have lifted it from your butcher.

[carswell]

Reminds me of another quotation in a Joy of Cooking headnote:

Madame Schumann-Heink, the great opera singer, was sitting in front of an enormous steak. Caruso passed her table and seeing the huge portion of meat before the singer, he said, "Stina, you are not going to eat that alone!" "No," Schumann-Heink said, shaking her fine old head. "No, not alone. With potatoes."

[cookie monster]

"Eternity is two people and a ham" (attributed to Dorothy Parker)

[carswell]

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
- Samuel Johnson

I'd ask you to stay for dinner, but I'm afraid you'd accept.
- Bette Davis

The idea of Prince Charles conversing with vegetables is not quite so amusing when you remember that he's had plenty of practice chatting to members of his own family.
- Jaci Stephens

He is the same old sausage, fizzing and sputtering in his own grease.
- Henry James

He looks as though he's been weaned on a pickle.
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth, on Calvin Coolidge

[Sam Fujisaka]

"Woman! Rise up out of the bed of your oppressor...and fix him breakfast!"

[eatnbmerry]

LOL! It sounds like a movie I vaguely remember? Was it Rob Roy?

[Sam Fujisaka]

Can't remember the source.

[eatnbmerry]

"That's the way the cookie crumbles"

followed by

"I want to have my cake and eat it too!"

[eatnbmerry]

"I could give a hill of beans!"

followed by

"Are you a bean counter?"

[Foodnerds]

"Anything with red grease coming out of it has got to be good."

-Anthony Bourdain

[Davwud]

Can't argue with that.

DT

[eatnbmerry]

“The Pig, if I am not mistaken, Gives us ham and pork and Bacon. Let others think his heart is big, I think it stupid of the Pig.”

Ogden Nash

[eatnbmerry]

"If you want a subject, look to pork!"

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

[eatnbmerry]

"No man should be allowed to be President who does not understand hogs."

Harry S. Truman

[Sam Fujisaka]

Gluttony is its own reward. (?)

[fruglescot]

WAITER!!........... What is this fly doing in my soup?
I believe it's the backstroke, Sir
.
Anonoymous.

[fruglescot]

An old Yiddish saying;

SO You'll lie in your grave making bagels!

[Uncle Ira]

Another Yiddish saying.....

“When a Jew cooks a chicken, one of them is sick.”

Uncle Ira

[New Trial]

Here are three favorites:

"I can resist anything except temptation." - Oscar Wilde

"It was a brave man who first et an oyster." - Samuel Johnson (though some claim Jonathan Swift)

"I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it." - E.B. White/Carl Rose http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/...

[ambrose]

Always loved Ambrose Bierce's definition of a fork:

"An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth."

[OldDog]

No matter what shape your stomach is in (Alka Seltzer...1965)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6PuGc...

[eatnbmerry]

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, Oh What A Relief It Is !

Alka Seltzer Commercial Jingle from 50's

[eatnbmerry]

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing!

Peter Boyle,
70's Alka Seltzer Commercial redone in '05

[Davwud]

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind"

DT

[Davwud]

If gum counts.

"I'm here to chew bubble gum and kick A$$. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!"
Rowdy Roddy Piper.

DT

[eatnbmerry]

Bubble gum as food pro wrestling as sport go hand in hand!

[RicRios]

This reminds me of an Uruguayan classic:

"To we drink mate or have sex? We're out of yerba."

[Trencher man]

"Our love is rice and beans and horse's lard" - The Pixies "Bone Machine"

[fruglescot]

As I recall , Jack Nicholson had a great line in a movie. It was in a restaurant scene and he was having a hard time getting an order of toast from the waitress.
Does anyone know the exact quote?

In another memorable movie scene which took place in a restaurant
In "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY" a customer orders after observing Sally do her fake orgasism routine.

"I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING"

[eatnbmerry]

The scene/quote is from Five Easy Pieces and goes like this:
Bobby: I'd like a plain omelet. No potatoes, tomatoes instead. A cup of coffee and wheat toast.
Waitress: No substitutions.
Bobby: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two — a plain omelet. It comes with cottage fries, and rolls.
Bobby: Yea, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.
Waitress: Well I'll come back when you make up your mind.
Bobby: Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelet, no potatoes on the plate. A cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you a English muffin or a coffee roll.
Bobby: What do you mean "you don't make side orders of toast"? You make sandwiches, don't you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Bobby: You've got bread. And a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don't make the rules.
Bobby: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
The waitress then indignantly orders them to leave, to which Nicholson knocks the drinks off the table with a sweep of his arm.

[Servorg]

Pithy and to the point:

"Eat Me" and its not quite so, dare we say, in your face kissing cousin "Bite Me"

[alanbarnes]

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou,
Singing beside me in the wilderness;
Ah, wilderness was paradise enough

Omar Khayyem

[Adrienne]

With a little help from quotationspage.com...

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good."

Alice May Brock

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826), The Physiology of Taste, 1825

"Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist."

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

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

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience."

James Beard

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

M. F. K. Fisher

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

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

"Never eat more than you can lift."

Miss Piggy

[eatnbmerry]

Or maybe this fits the bill even better?:

“The main problem in marriage is that, for a man, sex is a hunger - like eating. If a man is hungry and can't get to a fancy French restaurant, he'll go to a hot dog stand.”

Joan Fontaine

[eatnbmerry]

Does this sound like any hounds you know?:

"Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

[eatnbmerry]

"If you have no Honey in your Pot, have some in your Mouth.”

Benjamin Franklin

[mschow]

"So what am I, chopped liver?"

[CindyJ]

"Look to the cookie!" -- Jerry Seinfeld

"I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am." -- Dr. Seuss

[CinnamonKitten]

'Twas a woman who led me to drink! And I never had the courtesy to thank her. W.C. Fields

[eatnbmerry]

Ham and Eggs:

A morning's work for the chicken.....a life long job for the pig!

Anonymous Comedian

[eatnbmerry]

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!

Marie-Antoinette

Even non francophiles can easily guess at this most famous, maybe, of all food quotes and supposedly not even hers to begin with. Oh well thats what happens when you lose your head and aren't around to defend yourself!

[fruglescot]

I always thought that Brioche meant toast!??

[Gio]

Brioche is a French bread with a high butter and egg content.

The post should read: "Laissez-les manger le gâteau !"
"Let them eat cake!"

[Veggo]

What is the french for "who sharpens the knives around here?"? But I suppose Marie-Antoinette never got to ask the question, in either a complimentary or derogatory sense.

[Gio]

LOL Veggo.....Qui affile les couteaux autour ici ?
Mais, one only needs a fork to eat cake....ou, on a pu utiliser ses doigts.

[fruglescot]

"Allors"
Merci beaucoup!

[Gio]

Alors......avec plaisir!

[eatnbmerry]

yes iif you want a literal translation, but alas, this is the exact phrase that was used and our english translation has subbed cake for brioche

[Adrienne]

If anything then, we should change the English version, not hers. Perhaps this is a good example of a quote vs. a saying ;)

[rednyellow]

I always thought the "cake" she was speaking of was the caked suit inside chimneys, illustrating her contempt for the peasants.

[fruglescot]

" Let them eat (chimminy) cake" ......Oh yes . How contemptable!

[lamaranthe]

Sorry... but eatnbmerry is right. See wikipedia.org too

[RicRios]

A couple on-line comments on that famous frase:

Dear Cecil:

Did the French queen, Marie Antoinette, ever actually utter the phrase, "Let them eat cake"? I have a friend who claims that Crazy Marie actually said something in French that, in phonetic spelling, merely sounded like "Let them eat cake." Is the line in a class with Humphrey Bogart's "Play it again, Sam"--i.e., bogus? --Willie H., Chicago

Dear Willie:

I have a dream that someday one of these alleged facts of history is actually going to pan out. However, today is not the day. While Marie Antoinette was certainly enough of a bubblehead to have said the phrase in question, there is no evidence that she actually did so, and in any case she did not originate it. The peasants-have-no-bread story was in common currency at least since the 1760s as an illustration of the decadence of the aristocracy. The political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions it in his Confessions in connection with an incident that occurred in 1740. (He stole wine while working as a tutor in Lyons and then had problems trying to scrounge up something to eat along with it.) He concludes thusly: "Finally I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: 'Well, let them eat cake.'"

Now, J.-J. may have been embroidering this yarn with a line he had really heard many years later. But even so, at the time he was writing--early 1766--Marie Antoinette was only ten years old and still four years away from her marriage to the future Louis XVI. Writer Alphonse Karr in 1843 claimed that the line originated with a certain Duchess of Tuscany in 1760 or earlier, and that it was attributed to Marie Antoinette in 1789 by radical agitators who were trying to turn the populace against her.

As for your friend's suggestion, I suppose it's possible that one day, while under the influence of powerful hallucinogens, Marie said Le theme est quete ("The theme is quest"), and was overheard by an English-speaking tourist--thus giving rise, as your friend suggests, to the "Let them eat cake" legend. But frankly I doubt it.

LET THEM EAT POT SCRAPINGS

Dear Cecil:

Thank you for so nobly coming to the defense of the much-maligned Marie Antoinette, just as you did a few years ago with the equally vilified Catherine the Great. And now, as Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story ...

At the time that whoever-she-was uttered the infamous quotation "let them eat cake," the word "cake" did not refer to the familiar dessert item that the modern-day French call le gateau. The operative term was brioche, a flour-and-water paste that was "caked" onto the interiors of the ovens and baking pans of the professional boulangers of the era. (The modern equivalent is the oil-and-flour mixture applied to non-Teflon cake pans.) At the end of the day, the baker would scrape the leavings from his pans and ovens and set them outside the door for the benefit of beggars and scavengers. Thus, the lady in question was simply giving practical, if somewhat flippant, advice to her poor subjects: If one cannot afford the bourgeois bread, he can avail himself of the poor man's "cake."

However, by the time Marie Antoinette ascended the throne, brioche had acquired its current meaning--a fancy pastry item which, like le gateau, was priced far beyond the means of any but the wealthiest classes. The anti-Marie propagandists were well aware that their compatriots, most of whom were uneducated in either history or semantics, would swallow the story whole, so to speak, and not get the joke. Bon appetit! --N.D.G., Chicago

Dear N.:

That's very interesting, N., but wrong. Brioche is a sort of crusty bun, typically containing milk, flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and whatnot. It's considered a delicacy, and as far as I can determine (which is pretty far) has been since the Middle Ages. According to one cooking historian, brioche originally contained brie cheese, whence the name. Nicolas Bonnefons, writing in Delices de la campagne in 1679, gives a recipe for brioche that calls for butter and soft cheese, plus a glaze containing beaten eggs and (if desired) honey. Sounds pretty tasty, and in any case certainly not something bakers would line pots with.

--CECIL ADAMS

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_334.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The quote qu’ils mangent de la brioche ("Let them eat cake"). There are variety of versions in terms of the circumstances in the popular culture (ranging from peasants coming to her gate begging for food, to her driving through Paris and seeing the condition of the peasants), where she said this in response to the peasants. However, the quote actually comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who comments that a "certain princess" said it, the supposed princess referred to being Louis XIV's queen, Maria Theresa of Spain. Her quote was S'il ait aucun pain, donnez-leur la croûte au loin du pâté, which roughly translates to "If there be no bread, give them the crust off of the pâté". Though the claim to the Spanish princess is also backed up by the Comte de Provence, it is unknown if she, or any other French queen, actually ever said it.[106]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_An...

[Gio]

That's too funny.... I was reading the very same pages a few minutes ago. On another page it was stated that Maria-Teresa spoke those words, "qu’ils mangent de la brioche" 100 years before MA. In fact it was not as derogatory as it seems.
To quote from a Yahoo page: "At the time, French law required bakers to sell fancy breads at the same low price as the plain breads if they ran out of the latter. The goal was to prevent bakers from making very little cheap bread and then profiting off the fancy, expensive bread. Whoever really said "Let them eat brioche" may have meant that the bakery laws should be enforced so the poor could eat the fancy bread if there wasn't enough plain bread to go around."
http://ask.yahoo.com/20021122.html

[fruglescot]

Polemics finally creeps into our entertaining submissions,
however, I thank you for that erudite clarification Gio.
I can relate to the negative recollection of that great Madam.
Continually being misunderstood
"Off with their threads"

[eatnbmerry]

I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.

Papa Bear aka #41 aka H

[fruglescot]

"Sheppards Pie our specialty.

"If they can't even spell it right I'm not chancing eating it"
..........gw. shepherd

Note:
Made with chopped up lamb or mutton mixed with gravy. If made with beef it's
COTTAGE PIE.

[fruglescot]

From The Silence of the Lambs Movie

"A census taker once tried to test me... I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti"
...Hannibal Lecter 1991

[eatnbmerry]

Very nice!

[RicRios]

I'm confused: what's the difference btw Food Quotations & Food Sayings?

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/472128

[eatnbmerry]

Its a literary high brow thing my man! Just witness:

"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today".

J. Wellington Wimpy from Popeye

[fruglescot]

"Thanks for throwing a sour apple into the mutton stew."
Not too much as this topic goes. However, after reading the sayings on the other thread I'm leaning towards the quotations for pure entertainment. How about you, RicRos, what's your pleasure?

[eatnbmerry]

Touche Frugle,

Here's two more literary ones for you Ric:

"No man is lonely while eating spaghetti — it requires too much attention."
"Philadelphia was the first city to foresee the advantages of a Federal constitution and oatmeal as a breakfast food."

Both from Christopher Morley, Travels in Philadelphia

[RicRios]

Marilyn Monroe's magnum opus :

"I love matzoh balls soup. Just wonder what they do with the rest of the matzoh..."

[Motosport]

I once explained matzoh ball soup to a baffled guy at the table next to me in Junior's Brooklyn: He looked at the soup, was puzzled, asked out loud: "what is this?" I chimed in: "In Israel there is a cow like animal called the matzoh".

[greygarious]

During canning season, I once asked a teenage supermarket stock clerk if they sold Ball jars. Her slack-jawed gape told me she had no idea what I was referring to, so I said, "I guess you didn't know they are sold in jars", but quickly explained, as her expression changed to relief, that it's a synonym for canning jars.

[cayjohan]

I think perhaps attribution to a source may be the true difference ("quotation" versus "saying"), although these two threads do bleed into one another. Oh, well.

[fruglescot]

Good work folks. Perhaps we can keep this thread going until "NEW YEARS"

..........Here's won by "Willy" with an ancient recipe thrown in for good measure...........

.......................... "Good worts! good cabbage.”

—Shakespeare from Merry Wives of Windsor

Cut the cabbage in large pieces and cook until tender: change the water once. Pour off the water, and when perfectly cold chop fine, season with paprika and salt, and put into a saucepan with a cup of hot milk or hot stock. Cook till most of the liquid is cooked away; stir in a tablespoon of melted butter and the juice of a lemon, and serve.

[Non Cognomina]

"I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit."--Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Twelfth Night, by Wm. Shakespeare

"Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." --Sophia Loren

[cayjohan]

First off:

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

-- William Carlos Williams

Whets the tastebuds. Then read any food writing by Jim Harrison. You'll find loads of obscure quotes. And delicious ideas for those less inclined to the niceties of the table.

Good stuff.

Cay

[Non Cognomina]

This is one of my favorite poems!!!

[KaimukiMan]

one of mine too, was in a book we had in 4th grade.... Reflections on a Gift of Watermellon Pickle (also a great poem)

[LindaWhit]

"Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread -- there may be." ~ David Grayson, Adventures in Contentment, 1907

"A little butter never hurt anyone." ~ Julia Child

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." ~ James Beard

[jmckee]

"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food." -- W.C. Fields

[Cookiefiend]

“Here's to the corkscrew - a useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly.” -- W.E.P French

:-)

[Cookiefiend]

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~Harriet van Horne

"Happiness is a bowl of cherries and a book of poetry under a shade tree." ~Astrid Alauda

[Gio]

Samuel Johnson :
"Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy"

[Gio]

Julia Child:
I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

Orson Welles:
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four; unless there are three other people.

[Davwud]

"Give a man a beer and he'll drink it. Teach him where the fridge is and he'll drink all night."

Harry Moon

DT

[fruglescot]

Harry Moon must be a guy who throws all night parties.

[fruglescot]

How about this one for a religous holiday
"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish".
- - - Timothy Jones
or
About oysters;

"I will not eat oysters". "I want my food dead. Not sick, not wounded, dead" !.
- - - Woody Allen

A woman

[Will Owen]

How about, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you'll never again see him on weekends."

[alanbarnes]

Or, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll come home smelling of beer and telling great untruths."

[jayt90]

"A stew boiled is a stew spoiled!", according to Mrs. Bridges (Angela Baddely).