Food Proverbs

Our collection of food proverbs and wise old sayings about food, eating and cooking from a variety of sources all over the world.

One who eats alone cannot discuss the taste of food with others.
– African Proverb

Water is colourless and tasteless but you can live on it longer than eating food.
– African Proverb

Words are sweet, but they never take the place of food.
– African Proverb

You cannot tell a hungry child that you gave him food yesterday.
– African Proverb

The most beautiful fig may contain a worm.
– African Proverb

What satisfies hunger is good food.
– Chinese Proverb

A good meal must begin with hunger.
– French Proverb

Hunger is the best sauce.
– French Proverb

You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.
– French Proverb

A fish should swim thrice: in water, in sauce, and in wine.
– German Proverb

Don’t worry about the unlaid eggs.
– German Proverb

Through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest.
– Greek Proverb

It’s better to pay the butcher than the doctor.
– Irish Proverb

A small kitchen makes a big home.
– Italian Proverb

Cold tea and cold rice are bearable, but cold looks and cold words are not.
– Japanese Proverb

Eat well, drink in moderation, and sleep sound, in these three good health abound.
– Latin Proverb

Whether the durian hits the cucumber or the other way round, it’s going to be bad for the cucumber.
– Malay Proverb

Unity in the family can turn cockles shell to gold.
– Teochew Proverb

A cheerful heart is good medicine; but not on an empty stomach.
– Thai Proverb

He whose mouth has been burnt by hot milk will always blow on yoghurt.
– Turkish Proverb

When eating a fruit, remember the person who planted the fruit tree.
– Vietnamese Proverb

A spoon does not know the taste of soup, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
– Welsh Proverb

Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough, but not baked in the same oven.
– Yiddish Proverb

You cannot loosen a man’s tongue with root beer.
– Klingon proverb (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S5, E10, 1996)