Last updated on August 8th, 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.
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Quotes about Italian Food
- “The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.”- George Miller
- In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine.” – Robin Leach
- Try imagining a world without Italian food. You can’t, no way.” – Hozier
- “Italian food is simple and healthy, and it’s easier for a vegetarian to choose something from the menu.” – Pavel Durov
- “There’s nothing more romantic than Italian food.” – Elisha Cuthbert
- “If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?” – Martin Scorsese
- “Italian food is all about ingredients and it’s not fussy and it’s not fancy.” – Wolfgang Puck
- “Italian food really reflects the people. It reflects like a prism that fragments into regions.” – Lidia Bastianich
- “If you haven’t tried Italian cuisine, you haven’t really lived.” – Anonymous
- “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
- “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
- “I absolutely love Italian food. So pizza – like a margherita pizza, penne arrabiata, a glass of wine. That’s like my dream.” – Julianne Hough
- “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
- “Italian food is my favorite food. It’s the most sophisticated eating system.” – Peter Gabriel
- “All the answers lie in the sauce.” – Anonymous
- “Happiness starts with Italian cuisine.” – Anonymous
- “You try to come up with new ideas, but in the end, people just want to eat Italian food.” – Stephen Starr
- “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
- “One does not simply… cook Italian.” – Anonymous
- “The problem many people have with Italian food is they over-complicate it. Italian food is extremely simple.” – Gino D’Acampo
- “Italian cuisine is second to none.” – Anonymous
Quotes about Pasta
- “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini
- “In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta.” – Steve Albini
- “Everything you see I owe to pasta.” – Sophia Loren
- “Only thing I am testing positive for is Pasta or Cheese.” – Joe Lauzon
- “Pasta with melted cheese is the one thing I could eat over and over again.” – Yotam Ottolenghi
- “I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.” – Sophia Loren
- “No man is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention.”- Unknown
- “Carbs – especially pasta – are the fuel my body needs to maintain an athletic lifestyle.” – Joe Bastianich
- “In heaven, after antipasti, the first course will be pasta.” – Steve Albini
- “Life is not worth living if I cannot have pasta or bread again.” – Monica Seles
- “Loneliness is a foreign feeling when you’re eating pasta.” – Anonymous
- “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone sad while eating pasta.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta la vista, baby!” – Anonymous
- “All you need is love and pasta.” – Anonymous
- “The only guilty pleasure I have is pasta.” – Allison Janney
- “You can buy a good pasta but when you cook it yourself it has another feeling.” – Agnes Varda
- “There’s always room for pasta.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta rules the world.” – Anonymous
- “Anytime is a good time for pasta.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta is the one food I can’t live without. It’s the food I eat to fuel my running.” – Joe Bastianich
- “All I need is pasta.” – Anonymous
- “Nothing brings people together like good pasta.” – Anonymous
- “What does Karl Marx put on his pasta? Communist Manipesto!” – Stephen Colbert
- “First, we eat pasta.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta is the therapy I need.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta is life.” – Anonymous
- “I’d take pasta over skinny any day.” – Kathryn Budig
- “Pasta makes everything better.” – Anonymous
- “Pasta is always a good choice.” – Anonymous
- “Life without pasta is boring.” – Anonymous
Quotes about Pizza
- “Authentic pizza, like the ones made in Italy, is to die for!” – Anonymous
- “Pizza makes the world go round.” – Anonymous
- “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” – Yogi Berra
- “Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.” – Anna Quindlen
- “Pizza is the best thing that came out of Italy.” – Anonymous
- “The perfect lover is one who turns into a pizza at 4:00 A.M.” – Charles Pierce
- “Pizza makes anything possible.” – Henry Rollins
- “I love pizza. I want to marry it, but it would just be to eat her family at the wedding.” – Mike Birbiglia
- “There’s no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on your lap.” – Kevin James
- “A pizza slice a day keeps sadness away.” – Jet Pascal
- “Anyone who says that money cannot buy happiness has clearly never spent their money on pizza.” – Andrew W.K.
- “Time is money, money is power, power is pizza, and pizza is knowledge, let’s go!” – Aubrey Plaza
- “And I don’t cook, either. Not as long as they still deliver pizza.” – Tiger Woods
- “Pizza makes me feel whole.” – Anonymous
- “If you don’t love pizza, we can’t be friends.” – Anonymous
- “Pizza is what makes life great.” – Anonymous
- “I want to live in a world where the need for pizza belittles that of war.” – Jason Barnett
- “I don’t eat fast food, but I can’t live without pizza.” – Trevor Donovan
- “I’m always in the mood for pizza.” – Emma Kenney
- “Pizza is love.” – Anonymous
- “Pizza is good medicine for disappointment.” – Katherine Howe
- “Unless you are a pizza, the answer is yes, I can live without you.” – Bill Murray
- “What good is life if there’s no more pizza?” – Anonymous
- “Pizza makes life worth living.” – Anonymous
- “If you want to eat pizza, have the pizza.” – Tess Holliday
- “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 is a miracle of chemistry in a cup.” – Andrea Illy
- “Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France.” – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
- “The quintessential expression of coffee is espresso.” – Ernesto Illy
- “Coffee is balm to the heart and spirit.” – Giuseppe Verdi
- “Sips of Neapolitan coffee: brief, tasty but capable of rising to your brain and giving it a good old tickle.” – Luciano De Crescenzo
- “When I die, bring me a coffee, and you’ll see me rise again, like Lazarus.” – Eduardo De Filippo
- “There’s always time to drink a coffee and betray your wife.” – Totò
- “Friendship is like coffee, once cold it never returns to its original flavour, even if it is reheated.” – Immanuel Kant
- “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
- Pan di sudore, miglior sapore. – Bread that comes out of sweat, tastes better.
- Chi va a letto senza cena tutta la notte si dimena. – He who goes to bed without eating, will regret it throughout the night.
- A tavola non si invecchia. – At the table with good friends and family you do not become old.
- Il vino fa buon sangue. – Good wine makes good blood
- In vino veritas. – In wine there is truth
- Dove regna il vino non regna il silenzio. – Where wine reigns, silence does not reign
- Chi mangia sulo s’affoga. – He who eats alone suffocates.
- Dire pane al pane e vino al vino. – Speak bread to bread and wine to wine (Call a spade a spade)
- La cucina piccola fal la casa grande. – A small kitchen makes the house big.
- Non si vive di solo pane. – One does not live by bread alone.
- Amici e vini sono meglio vecchi. – Old wine and friends improve with age
- Mangiare per vivere e non vivere per mangiare. – Eat to live and not live to eat.
- Nella botte piccola c’è il vino buono. – In small barrels, there’s good wine
- 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)
You may want to check out 85+ Facts About Italian Food Culture!