Inspirational chef quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
Famous Chef Quotes
As chefs, we cook to please people, to nourish people. Jose Andres
A great chef is an artist that I truly respect. Robert Stack
I train my chefs with a blindfold. I’ll get my sous chef and myself to cook a dish. The young chef would have to sit down and eat it with a blindfold. If they can’t identify the flavor, they shouldn’t be cooking the dish. Gordon Ramsay
I don’t like food that’s too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I’d buy a painting. Andy Rooney
In cooking you’ve got to have a what the hell attitude. Julia Child
A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that’s when cuisine is truly exciting. Charlie Trotter
Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity. Guy Fieri
Kitchens should be designed around what’s truly important fun, food, and life. Daniel Boulud
Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors it’s how you combine them that sets you apart. Wolfgang Puck
There’s a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family. Gordon Ramsay
I love the culture of grilling. It creates an atmosphere that is festive but casual. Bobby Flay
I always had a fantasy of being a chef, because I like kitchen life. Geoffrey Rush
The most essential part of my day is a proper dinner. Rachael Ray
I can’t stand people that do not take food seriously. Oscar Wilde
There are two different things: there’s grilling, and there’s barbecue. Grilling is when people say, ‘We’re going to turn up the heat, make it really hot and sear a steak, sear a burger, cook a chicken.’ Barbecue is going low and slow. Guy Fieri
I liked the energy of cooking, the action, the camaraderie. I often compare the kitchen to sports and compare the chef to a coach. There are a lot of similarities to it. Todd English
I want to teach people the secret of great visual presentation. Your stomach sees the food first, and I want to help them match food flavor profiles with the aesthetics of everything. Wolfgang Puck
People who love to eat are always the best people. Julia Child
Cooking is a subject you can never know enough about. There is always something new to discover. Bobby Flay
Japanese chefs believe our soul goes into our knives once we start using them. You wouldn’t put your soul in a dishwasher! Masaharu Morimoto
Oh, dearie, dainty doesn’t do it in the kitchen. Julia Child
I call all chefs cooks. They’re all cooks. That’s what we do, we cook. You’re a chef when you’re running a kitchen. Tom Colicchio
Cooking for me is a way to wind down. It’s different from cooking on camera, where you have to do everything twice, for a wide shot and a close up. Giada De Laurentiis
Maybe one of the only things I do well: I cook like a maniac! I would be a chef if I weren’t an actor. Ian Somerhalder
Cook more often. Don’t study; just cook. Masaharu Morimoto
I train my chefs completely differently than anyone else. My young girls and guys, when they come to the kitchen, the first thing they get is a blindfold. They get blindfolded and they sit down at the chef’s table Unless they can identify what they’re tasting, they don’t get to cook it. Gordon Ramsay
Manage the heat, let the meat cook, and you’ll get fantastic results. Guy Fieri
I remember when I was in college, I used to watch Julia Child’s cooking show during dinner and joke with my roommates about becoming a TV chef. Martin Yan
Cooking is the ultimate giving. Jamie Oliver
The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. Calvin Trillin
I always say that I don’t believe I’m a chef. I try to be a storyteller. Jose Andres
A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult. Wolfgang Puck
If an architect makes a mistake, he grows ivy to cover it. If a doctor makes a mistake, he covers it with soil. If a cook makes a mistake, he covers it with some sauce and says it is a new recipe. Paul Bocuse
Just like if you were brought up on a farm, you would most likely carry on your father’s business as a farmer; I was brought up in the kitchen and ended up becoming a chef. Martin Yan
I’m not serving a menu, I’m serving a story. I’m serving my soul. I’m serving a conversation, and I want you to talk back to me. Dominique Crenn
Good food is a right, not a privilege. It brings children into a positive relationship with their health, community and environment. Alice Waters
Preparing food is one of life’s great joys, but a lot of times, parents ask their kids if they want to cook with them and then tell them to go peel a bag of potatoes. That’s not cooking that’s working! Guy Fieri
I sometimes think the chef end of cooking is not the real end of cooking. Cooking is all about homes and gardens, it doesn’t happen in restaurants. Delia Smith
The way you make an omelet reveals your character. Anthony Bourdain
Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh because he knows that I’m not a chef. Nigella Lawson
When you run a kitchen, no matter how crazy and chaotic it gets, you have to be the calm one. You cannot show any sign of fear the guests pick up on it. The beauty of this kitchen, though, is that everybody helps everybody. Nina Compton
If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that’s exactly what I did. Gordon Ramsay
Clean plates don’t lie. Dan Barber
I believe that food is one way to make people happy. I also believe that food can unite people from all walks of life and cultures. When we sit together and eat, we promote better understanding and harmony.Food brings love, peace and compassion to the table. Chef Wan
Boning is a pain, but it makes such a majestic chicken. Daniel Boulud
News networks giving a greater voice to viewers because the social web is so popular are like a chef on the Titanic who, seeing the looming iceberg and fleeing customers, figures ice is the future and starts making snow cones. Randall Munroe
Cooking is one of the most zen things you have to be there. Roy Choi
Peace begins in the kitchens and pantries, gardens and backyards, where our food is grown and prepared. The energies of nature and the infinite universe are absorbed through the foods we eat and are transmuted into our thoughts and actions. Michio Kushi
Cooking is not a craft to get into for money. The money may come, or it may not. But you must get into it for the craft and the culture. Roy Choi
Your pantry is your first line of defense against food borne illness and things like high blood pressure and cholesterol. Joe Bastianich
A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe. Thomas Keller
Chefs don’t do ponytails and we shouldn’t do them because I guarantee that whenever there’s a discovery of hair in the food, it’s guaranteed it’s from the chef’s ponytail. Gordon Ramsay
Gastronomy is the greatest form of therapy that anyone can be exposed to. Marco Pierre White
I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food. W. C. Fields
If you think well, you cook well. Ferran Adria
A good apprentice cook must be as polite with the dishwasher as with the chef. Fernand Point
Your classic guacamole is just avocados, lime juice, and salt. Guy Fieri
All of the people who work in the kitchen with me go out into the forests and on to the beach. It’s a part of their job. If you work with me you will often be starting your day in the forest or on the shore because I believe foraging will shape you as a chef. Rene Redzepi
Anchovies pair really well with fruit like a nectarines or clementine. The fruit complements the sweetness and saltiness of the anchovy. Jose Andres
First of all, I can’t really claim to be a great chef. Martin Yan
The most important thing for me is to really buy the best ingredient. Wolfgang Puck
My grandfather was a chef for a Baron in Sicily before he came to America. I grew up with him. I used to do my homework at one end of the kitchen table while he cooked at the other end. Vincent Schiavelli
It’s like a soul satisfying feeling when you’re eating something that just really hits your heart. Nina Compton
You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made. Even after you eat it, it stays with you always. Julia Child
Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way that’s the best way to take your everyday cooking to a higher level. Jose Andres
Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors it’s how you combine them that sets you apart. Wolfgang Puck
To have a basic ingredient that can be prepared a million different ways is a beautiful thing. Alice Waters
When we no longer have good cooking in the world, we will have no literature, nor high and sharp intelligence, nor friendly gatherings, no social harmony. Marie Antoine Careme
