Quotes about food
page 16

Swami Sivananda photo

“Beef, wine, garlic, onions, and tobacco are Tamasic food-stuffs. They exercise a very unwholesome influence on the human mind and fill it with emotions of anger, darkness, and inertia.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Bliss Divine, Chapter 82, Vegetarianism, Divine Life Society, http://www.dlshq.org/books/es19.htm (circa 1959)

Swami Sivananda photo
Pete Buttigieg photo
Sanai photo
Dany Laferrière photo
Alec Douglas-Home photo
David Ricardo photo
Thomas Jefferson photo
Hillary Clinton photo
J. Howard Moore photo

“The chief activities of beings, both human and non-human, are put forth, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of procuring food. The suppression, entire or partial, of one being by another for nutritive purposes is, therefore, the form of the most frequent and excessive egoism. The lowly forms of life—the worms, echinoderms, mollusks, and the like—are, for the most part, vegetarians. So, also, are prevalently the insects, birds, rodents, and ungulates. These creatures are not, as a rule, aggressively harmful to each other, chiefly indifferent. But upon these inoffensive races feed with remorseless maw the reptilia, the insectivora, and the carnivora. These being-eaters cause to the earth-world its bloodiest experiences. It is their nature (established organically by long selection, or, as in the case of man, acquired tentatively) to subsist, not on the kingdom of the plant, the natural and primal storehouse of animal energy, but on the skeletons and sensibilities of their neighbors and friends. The serpent dines on the sparrow and the sparrow ingulfs the gnat; the tiger slays the jungle-fowl and the coyote plunders the lamb; the seal subsists on fish and the ursus maritimus subsists on seal; the ant enslaves the aphidae and man eats and enslaves what can not get away from him. Life riots on life—tooth and talon, beak and paw. It is a sickening contemplation, But life everywhere, in its aspect of activity, is largely made up of the struggle by one being against another for existence—of the effort by one being to circumvent, subjugate, or destroy another, and of the counter effort to reciprocate or escape.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Preponderance of Egoism, pp. 123–125

J. Howard Moore photo

“Man, in satisfying his desires, in avoiding misery and achieving happiness, strives to do two things with the inanimate universe: to manage it and to foreknow it. The inanimate is not devoted to us. We are not birdlings cuddled in an order of things where we need simply to yawn and be filled. We must bestir ourselves, or be in a position to compel others to bestir themselves for us, or perish. We are waifs, brought into existence by a universe whose solicitude for us ended with the travail that brought us forth. The inanimate universe is our mother, but without the blessed mother-love. The first thing we are conscious of, and about the only thing we ever absolutely know, is that we are whirling around in a very helpless manner on a whirligig of a ball, out of whose substance by the sweat of our brows we must quarry our existence. The universe is practically independent of us. But we, alas, are not independent of it. The food we eat, our raiment, our habitations, our treasures, our implements of knowledge, and our means of amusement are all portions of the inanimate, which we living beings must somehow subtract from the rest. In order to obtain these indispensable portions of the universe about us, we must halter it and control it and compel it to produce to the tune of our desires.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), The Problem of Industry, pp. 19–20

J. Howard Moore photo
Killer Kowalski photo
Abbie Hoffman photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
Roy Jenkins photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo
John Conyers photo
Mahatma Gandhi photo
Benjamin Creme photo
Tulsi Gabbard photo
Tulsi Gabbard photo

“US support for Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen must end. Over 85k children have died, tens of millions w/o food & water, creating worst humanitarian crisis in a generation — supported by the US and never authorized by Congress. This must end now.”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

Twitter account, January 2019
Source: (30 January 2019) https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1090738329258213377

Clement Attlee photo
Clement Attlee photo
Clement Attlee photo
Hippocrates photo

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Hippocrates (-460–-370 BC) ancient Greek physician

This is often attributed to Hippocrates but does not appear in the Hippocratic corpus. See Diana Cardenas https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258099432_Let_not_thy_food_be_confused_with_thy_medicine_The_Hippocratic_misquotation, "Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation", e-SPEN: The European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism XXX:6 (October 2013).
Disputed

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali photo

“The highest food is the vomit of bees, we know it as honey.”

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic
Seneca the Younger photo
Henry Campbell-Bannerman photo
David Lloyd George photo
David Lloyd George photo
David Lloyd George photo
Michael Gove photo

“It will not be the case that we will have zero-rate tariffs on food products. There will be protections for sensitive sections of agriculture and food production.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Brexit: UK will apply food tariffs in case of no deal https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47291378 BBC News (19 February 2019)
2019

Michael Gove photo

“No-one can be blithe or blase about the real impact on food producers in this country of leaving without a deal.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Speech at the Oxford Farming Conference https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46743164, BBC News, 3 January 2019
2019

Annie Besant photo
George Santayana photo

“At midday the daily food of all Spaniards was the puchero or cocido, as the dish is really called which the foreigners call pot-pourri or olla podrida.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

This contains principally yellow chick-peas, with a little bacon, some potatoes or other vegetables and normally also small pieces of beef or sausage, all boiled in one pot at a very slow fire; the liquid of the same makes the substantial broth that is served first.
Source: Persons and Places (1944), p. 14

Wilson Chandler photo

“I was pretty health-conscious even before going vegan. The transition came after I watched Food, Inc. and a documentary called GMO OMG.”

Wilson Chandler (1987) American basketball player

After that I went pescatarian for a while, but I went deeper and deeper with research. … Part of why I stopped eating meat is because the more acid is in your body, the harder it is for muscles to recover.
"The Real-Life Diet of Wilson Chandler, Nuggets Forward and Vegan" https://www.gq.com/story/wilson-chandler-real-life-vegan-diet, interview with GQ (December 6, 2016).

David Rakoff photo
Isa Chandra Moskowitz photo

“I think if you are a chef who thinks that vegan cooking has less taste and flavor than other foods than that just speaks to your own inability. Vegetables can stand on their own they don’t need all your duck blood on them, thank you. Also people tend to think vegans are emaciated self sacrificing, well tell that to my big ass jew hips.”

Isa Chandra Moskowitz (1973) American food writer

" Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Creator, Post Punk Kitchen, Author, Vegan With a Vengeance http://gothamist.com/2005/11/03/isa_chandra_moskowitz_creator_post_punk_kitchen_author_vegan_with_a_vengeance.php". Interview by Rachel Kramer Bussel for Gothamist, November 3, 2005

Yehudi Menuhin photo
B.K.S. Iyengar photo
Zakir Hussain (politician) photo
Indra Nooyi photo

“Nui is a different kind of CEO. He says her approach boils down to balancing the profit motive by making healthier snacks (in speech to the food industry, she pushed the group to tackle obesity), striving for a net zero impact on the environment and taking care of your workforce. She was one of the first executives to realize that the health and green movements were just not fads and she demanded true innovation.”

Indra Nooyi (1955) Indian-born, naturalized American, business executive

Quoted in[. Lussier, Robert N, Achua, Christopher F., Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development: Theory, Application, & Skill Development, http://books.google.com/books?id=7ctnVNMtBQgC&pg=PA151, 1 February 2009, Cengage Learning, 978-0-324-59655-7, 151–]

M. S. Swaminathan photo

“Dr. Swaminathan is a living legend. His contributions to Agricultural Science have made an indelible mark on food production in India and elsewhere in the developing world. By any standards, he will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction.”

M. S. Swaminathan (1925) Indian scientist

Stated by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations on the occasion of award of the First World Food Prize. Quoted here World Food Prize, Prof. Swaminathan, 1987 World Food Prize Laureate, 25 November 2013, World Food Prize Organization http://www.worldfoodprize.org/Laureates/Past/1987.htm,

“Paul Cilliers was a remarkable Renaissance man and one of the most important academics and Afrikaner intellectuals that this country has produced. I had the privilege of knowing him for close on thirty years as friend, colleague and soul mate with a shared love of ideas, music, food, social interaction and a burning interest in complexity and complex systems.”

Paul Cilliers (1956–2011) South African philosopher

Jannie Hofmeyr cited in: Stellenbosch University mourns passing of top academic http://blogs.sun.ac.za/news/2011/08/01/stellenbosch-university-mourns-passing-of-top-academic/ at blogs.sun.ac.za, 2011/08/01

Rajinikanth photo
Shaun Micallef photo
Raj Patel photo
Penn Jillette photo
William S. Burroughs photo
Waka Flocka Flame photo

“I'm a conscious eater, meaning I'm conscious about the things I put in my mouth. I know the ingredients in the food, I know the chemicals, if there are chemicals, I know what that cup is made of, and if I'm eating out of this plastic utensil, I know what it's doing. I'm a "conscious eater."”

Waka Flocka Flame (1986) American rapper and comedian

Video interview https://www.tmz.com/2018/01/25/waka-flocka-flame-not-vegan-new-diet/ with TMZ (25 January 2018); as quoted in "Drake, Chadwick And Other Famous Black Men Who’ve Gone Vegetarian And Vegan" https://madamenoire.com/1018881/drake-famous-men-vegetarian-vegan/6/, MadameNoire (22 March 2018).

Cory Doctorow photo
Cory Doctorow photo
Daniel Abraham photo
Caldwell Esselstyn photo

“In all of western civilization, there is nothing more common than coronary artery heart disease, and that is because of the foods that most people eat every day.”

Caldwell Esselstyn (1933) American physician, author and rower

Interview in the documentary-film The Game Changers by Louie Psihoyos (2018).

Dean Ornish photo
Marianne Williamson photo
Marianne Williamson photo
Will Tuttle photo
Richard Wrangham photo
Benjamin Creme photo
Lauren Ornelas photo

“Whether we’re talking about human or nonhuman animals, the abuses in our food system are similar—living beings are treated as commodities for profit.”

Lauren Ornelas American activist

"ACE Interviews: Lauren Ornelas" https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/ace-interviews-lauren-ornelas/ by Erika Alonso, AnimalCharityEvaluators.org (July 13, 2017).

Lauren Ornelas photo
Benjamin Creme photo
Marilu Henner photo

“For years, I was the girl whose idea of a gourmet meal was a pot of cheese fondue followed by cheesecake. I would think nothing of spending three days chipping away at a pound of Jarlsberg, eating no other food, and proudly calling it my “1,700-Calories-a-Day Diet!””

Marilu Henner (1952) American actress

[…] I knew my health needed improving, so I started making changes. But nothing had quite the impact on my health like giving up cheese. In fact, I consider the day I gave up cheese forever—Wednesday, August 15, 1979—my true health birthday. […] When I gave up dairy, everything about me changed. My skin cleared, my cheeks de-puffed, my nose narrowed, my eyes brightened, my body streamlined.

Foreword https://books.google.it/books?id=TKfbDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT6 to The Cheese Trap by Neal D. Barnard (2017).

William Wordsworth photo
William Wordsworth photo

“OK, monkey, it's just you and me... I'll give you time to pray to your big, filthy monkey god before I food you.”

Darby Conley (1970) American cartoonist

LoserPalooza and daily strip for July 28, 2003
Bucky Katt

William Cobbett photo
Yuval Noah Harari photo
Halldór Laxness photo
Benjamin Creme photo
Wendell Berry photo
Wendell Berry photo
Benjamin Creme photo
Kal Penn photo

“I mean no disrespect to any of our current climate at all, but I have been an actor for almost two decades now, and this is a dream come true to be able to create a network comedy that just makes people laugh…What I love about comedy is that, like music, sports and food, it brings us all together.”

Kal Penn (1977) American actor and civil servant

On his show Sunnyside in “Kal Penn Talks Putting A Twist On Immigration Narrative With ‘Sunnyside’ & Chances For Another ‘Harold And Kumar’ Movie” https://deadline.com/2019/09/kal-penn-sunnyside-nbc-immigration-comedy-harold-and-kumar-1202743466/ in Deadline (2019 Sep 26)

Prince photo
Jacy Reese photo

“It’s the global food system that’s broken, not just the practices of any one country. A global problem requires a united global effort, and China could easily take the lead.”

Jacy Reese (1992) American social scientist

[China Could Become the Lab Meat Capital of the World, August 26, 2018, LiveKindly, https://www.livekindly.co/china-lab-meat-capital-world/]

Jacy Reese photo

“Many years from now, our descendants will look back on the use of animals for food—particularly the intense animal suffering in factory farms—as a moral atrocity.”

Jacy Reese (1992) American social scientist

[Why It's Time to End Factory Farming, October 20, 2018, Quillette, https://quillette.com/2018/10/20/why-its-time-to-end-factory-farming/]

“Among the world's crops wheat is pre-eminent both in regard to its antiquity and its importance as a food of mankind. In prehistoric times it was cultivated throughout Europe, and was one of the most valuable cereals of ancient Persia, Greece, and Egypt.”

John Percival (1863–1949) British agricultural botanist

[The Wheat Plant: A Monograph, 1921, London, Duckworth & Co, 3, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t56d5r310&view=1up&seq=21]

Thomas Merton photo
Warren Leopold photo

“Man is endowed with choice, but the world as he has made it is a perfect example of what not to do. Man's basic needs are food, shelter, clothing, and procreation. The stock market, cosmetics, religious games, war games, the myth of teaching, and political games are the lack of these.”

Warren Leopold (1920–1998)

[Westlund, Darren, Cambria Treasures, Warren Leopold, Cambira, CA, Small Town Surrealist Productions, 1990, 39, ASIN: B000E263NM, 2019-03-17, https://www.amazon.com/Cambria-Treasures-Interviews-Noteworthy-Cambrians/dp/B000E263NM]

Jona Weinhofen photo
Newton Lee photo
Swami Sivananda photo
Kenneth Arrow photo
Cory Booker photo
Jerry Seinfeld photo

“Comedy is more personal than food.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012 — Present), Season 3 (2014)

Stokely Carmichael photo
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson photo
Stephen Vincent Benét photo
Benjamin Creme photo