birds eye view of various Italian dishes such as a cheese board, freshly cut tomatoes to make bruschetta, bread, slices and lentils.
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100 Quotes about Italian Food

Last updated on March 17th, 2024

It is no surprise that literally all people, famous or not, end up talking about or citing Italian food. I mean, it’s that good, and it’s totally worth every second of air time it gets. 

In fact, I can tell you from personal experience that it’s almost impossible not to sit at an Italian table with Italians in Italy and NOT end up talking about food. 

Everyone loves talking about Italian food and some, like Sophia Loren, have even capitalized upon it. 

So read on for some good laughs, interesting quotes, and perhaps new-to-your-ear Italian proverbs. 

Quotes about Italian Food

close up of roasted whole pork on a wooden board
Classic Italian porchetta
  1. “The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.”- George Miller
  2. In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine.” – Robin Leach
  3. Try imagining a world without Italian food. You can’t, no way.” – Hozier
  4. “Italian food is simple and healthy, and it’s easier for a vegetarian to choose something from the menu.” – Pavel Durov
  5. “There’s nothing more romantic than Italian food.” – Elisha Cuthbert
  6. “If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?” – Martin Scorsese
  7. “Italian food is all about ingredients and it’s not fussy and it’s not fancy.” – Wolfgang Puck
  8. “Italian food really reflects the people. It reflects like a prism that fragments into regions.” – Lidia Bastianich
  9. “If you haven’t tried Italian cuisine, you haven’t really lived.” – Anonymous
  10. “I am a sucker for those old traditional places, and Rome is as good as it gets, particularly when you throw in Italian food.” – Roger Federer
  11. “I love Italian food but that’s too generic a term for what’s available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on.” – Lee Child
  12. “I absolutely love Italian food. So pizza – like a margherita pizza, penne arrabiata, a glass of wine. That’s like my dream.” – Julianne Hough
  13. “I’m a big pasta fan. I’m a big Italian food fan. Anything Italian – I love cheese, mozzarella. Mozzarella is my favorite, so if I have to say anything Italian, I’ll take it.” – Malin Akerman
  14. “Italian food is my favorite food. It’s the most sophisticated eating system.” – Peter Gabriel
  15. “All the answers lie in the sauce.” – Anonymous
  16. “Happiness starts with Italian cuisine.” – Anonymous
  17. “You try to come up with new ideas, but in the end, people just want to eat Italian food.” – Stephen Starr
  18. “Wherever I go, I am Italian. The way I talk, the way I eat, the way femininity is important to me. The way I love Italian food.” – Monica Bellucci
  19. “One does not simply… cook Italian.” – Anonymous
  20. “The problem many people have with Italian food is they over-complicate it. Italian food is extremely simple.” – Gino D’Acampo
  21. “Italian cuisine is second to none.” – Anonymous

Quotes about Pasta

close up of white shallow bowl with spaghetti in tomato sauce on black background
Pasta al pomodoro
  1. “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini
  2. “In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta.” – Steve Albini
  3. “Everything you see I owe to pasta.” – Sophia Loren
  4. “Only thing I am testing positive for is Pasta or Cheese.” – Joe Lauzon
  5. “Pasta with melted cheese is the one thing I could eat over and over again.” – Yotam Ottolenghi
  6. “I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.” – Sophia Loren
  7. “No man is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention.”- Unknown
  8. “Carbs – especially pasta – are the fuel my body needs to maintain an athletic lifestyle.” – Joe Bastianich
  9. “In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta.” – Steve Albini
  10. “Life is not worth living if I cannot have pasta or bread again.” – Monica Seles
  11. “Loneliness is a foreign feeling when you’re eating pasta.” – Anonymous
  12. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone sad while eating pasta.” – Anonymous
  13. “Pasta la vista, baby!” – Anonymous
  14. “All you need is love and pasta.” – Anonymous
  15. “The only guilty pleasure I have is pasta.” – Allison Janney
  16. “You can buy a good pasta but when you cook it yourself it has another feeling.” – Agnes Varda
  17. “There’s always room for pasta.” – Anonymous
  18. “Pasta rules the world.” – Anonymous
  19. “Anytime is a good time for pasta.” – Anonymous
  20. “Pasta is the one food I can’t live without. It’s the food I eat to fuel my running.” – Joe Bastianich
  21. “All I need is pasta.” – Anonymous
  22. “Nothing brings people together like good pasta.” – Anonymous
  23. “What does Karl Marx put on his pasta? Communist Manipesto!” – Stephen Colbert
  24. “First, we eat pasta.” – Anonymous
  25. “Pasta is the therapy I need.” – Anonymous
  26. “Pasta is life.” – Anonymous
  27. “I’d take pasta over skinny any day.” – Kathryn Budig
  28. “Pasta makes everything better.” – Anonymous
  29. “Pasta is always a good choice.” – Anonymous
  30. “Life without pasta is boring.” – Anonymous

Quotes about Pizza

zoomed in angle shot of pizza margherita garnished with fresh basil
  1. “Authentic pizza, like the ones made in Italy, is to die for!” – Anonymous
  2. “Pizza makes the world go round.” – Anonymous
  3. “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” – Yogi Berra
  4. “Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.” – Anna Quindlen
  5. “Pizza is the best thing that came out of Italy.” – Anonymous
  6. “The perfect lover is one who turns into a pizza at 4:00 A.M.” – Charles Pierce
  7. “Pizza makes anything possible.” – Henry Rollins
  8. “I love pizza. I want to marry it, but it would just be to eat her family at the wedding.” – Mike Birbiglia
  9. “There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.” – Kevin James
  10. “A pizza slice a day keeps sadness away.” – Jet Pascal
  11. “Anyone who says that money cannot buy happiness has clearly never spent their money on pizza.” – Andrew W.K.
  12. “Time is money, money is power, power is pizza, and pizza is knowledge, let’s go!” – Aubrey Plaza
  13. “And I don’t cook, either. Not as long as they still deliver pizza.” – Tiger Woods
  14. “Pizza makes me feel whole.” – Anonymous
  15. “If you don’t love pizza, we can’t be friends.” – Anonymous
  16. “Pizza is what makes life great.” – Anonymous
  17. “I want to live in a world where the need for pizza belittles that of war.” – Jason Barnett
  18. “I don’t eat fast food, but I can’t live without pizza.” – Trevor Donovan
  19. “I’m always in the mood for pizza.” – Emma Kenney
  20. “Pizza is love.” – Anonymous
  21. “Pizza is good medicine for disappointment.” – Katherine Howe
  22. “Unless you are a pizza, the answer is yes, I can live without you.” – Bill Murray
  23. “What good is life if there’s no more pizza?” – Anonymous
  24. “Pizza makes life worth living.” – Anonymous
  25. “If you want to eat pizza, have the pizza.” – Tess Holliday
  26. “You can do irrefutably impossible things with the right amount of planning and support from intelligent and hardworking people and pizza.” – Scott M. Gimple

Quotes about Espresso

espresso machine making coffee at restaurant in white cup close up
  1. “Espresso is a miracle of chemistry in a cup.” – Andrea Illy
  2. “Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France.” – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
  3. “The quintessential expression of coffee is espresso.” – Ernesto Illy
  4. “Coffee is balm to the heart and spirit.” – Giuseppe Verdi
  5. “Sips of Neapolitan coffee: brief, tasty but capable of rising to your brain and giving it a good old tickle.” – Luciano De Crescenzo
  6. “When I die, bring me a coffee, and you’ll see me rise again, like Lazarus.” – Eduardo De Filippo
  7. “There’s always time to drink a coffee and betray your wife.” – Totò
  8. “Friendship is like coffee, once cold it never returns to its original flavour, even if it is reheated.” – Immanuel Kant
  9. “Have you ever wondered what coffee is? Coffee is an excuse. An excuse to tell a friend you love him.” – Luciano De Crescenzo

Quotes about Italian Food – Proverbs

close up of mozzarella and cherry tomatoes garnished with basil
  1. Pan di sudore, miglior sapore. – Bread that comes out of sweat, tastes better.
  2. Chi va a letto senza cena tutta la notte si dimena. – He who goes to bed without eating, will regret it throughout the night.
  3. A tavola non si invecchia. – At the table with good friends and family you do not become old.
  4. Il vino fa buon sangue. – Good wine makes good blood
  5. In vino veritas. – In wine there is truth
  6. Dove regna il vino non regna il silenzio. – Where wine reigns, silence does not reign
  7. Chi mangia sulo s’affoga. – He who eats alone suffocates.
  8. Dire pane al pane e vino al vino.  – Speak bread to bread and wine to wine (Call a spade a spade)
  9. La cucina piccola fal la casa grande. – A small kitchen makes the house big.
  10. Non si vive di solo pane. – One does not live by bread alone.
  11. Amici e vini sono meglio vecchi. – Old wine and friends improve with age
  12. Mangiare per vivere e non vivere per mangiare. – Eat to live and not live to eat.
  13. Nella botte piccola c’è il vino buono. – In small barrels, there’s good wine
  14. Non si può avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca. – One can’t have a full barrel and a drunk wife (You can’t have your cake and eat it too)