50 Inspirational Chef Quotes to Ignite Your Culinary Passion

"Having realised that in cooking there was a vast field of study and development, I said to myself, 'Although I had not originally intended to enter this profession, since I am in it, I will work in such a fashion that I will rise above the ordinary, and I will do my best to raise again the prestige of the chef de cuisine.'"

- Auguste Escoffier

"You have to be confident in who you are and what you're doing. Of course, you try to evolve. I would never tell you, 'Today is the best I will ever be.' I'm always trying to be a better chef, a better dad, a better person."

- Guy Fieri

"Whatever you do, do with determination. You have one life to live; do your work with passion and give your best. Whether you want to be a chef, doctor, actor, or a mother, be passionate to get the best result."

- Alia Bhatt

"A chef is a mixture maybe of artistry and craft. You have to learn the craft really to get there."

- Wolfgang Puck

"Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef."

- Thomas Keller

"I've been a cook all my life, but I am still learning to be a good chef. I'm always learning new techniques and improving beyond my own knowledge because there is always something new to learn and new horizons to discover."

- Jose Andres

"If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that's exactly what I did."

- Gordon Ramsay

"I’ve long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime ‘associates,’ food, for me, has always been an adventure."

- Anthony Bourdain

"If you love being a chef then give it all you've got!"

- Monica Galetti

"I'm not a chef. But I'm passionate about food - the tradition of it, cooking it, and sharing it."

- Zac Posen

"Anyone who's a chef, who loves food, ultimately knows that all that matters is: 'Is it good? Does it give pleasure?'"

- Anthony Bourdain

"To me, there's no great chef without a great team."

- Daniel Boulud

"Cooking is not difficult. Everyone has taste, even if they don't realize it. Even if you're not a great chef, there's nothing to stop you understanding the difference between what tastes good and what doesn't."

- Gerard Depardieu

"If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it's not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others - it's the same with music."

- will.i.am

"Everyone has days when things can go wrong. That doesn't make you a bad pastry chef - that makes you human."

- Johnny Iuzzini

"I always say that I don't believe I'm a chef. I try to be a storyteller."

- Jose Andres

"As a boss, as a CEO, as a creative director, as a chef, I've learned that failure will always come. I've learned to give it a big squeeze, smile at it, humble myself to it and then use it as a springboard to send me on my way to strength, success, and fulfillment."

- Christina Tosi

"I always knew I wanted to be a chef."

- Grant Achatz

"I think the most wonderful thing in the world is another chef. I'm always excited about learning new things about food."

- Paul Prudhomme

"One of the things is challenging yourself to do a Rome show when everybody's done a Rome show. To find some aspect of food culture or chef culture that people can look at in a new way."

- Anthony Bourdain

"If you're a happy person around food, you can be a professional chef. It's fueled by passion."

- Ranveer Brar

"Being a chef is about feeding people, which is part of the story of all humanity."

- Dominique Crenn

"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

"The biggest challenge of being a pastry chef is that, unlike other types of chefs, you can't throw things together at a farmer's market. When you're working with baking powder and a formula, you have to be exact. If not, things can go wrong."

- Carla Hall

"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

"You can't be a chef and appear on television all the time. It's impossible. At least when I earned my stars, I was always behind my stove."

- Marco Pierre White

"My palate is simpler than it used to be. A young chef adds and adds and adds to the plate. As you get older, you start to take away."

- Jacques Pepin

"You don't have to be a chef or even a particularly good cook to experience proper kitchen alchemy: the moment when ingredients combine to form something more delectable than the sum of their parts. Fancy ingredients or recipes not required; simple, made-up things are usually even better."

- Erin Morgenstern

"To eat well, I always disagree with critics who say that all restaurants should be fine dining. You can get a Michelin star if you serve the best hamburger in the world."

- David Chang

"If you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And that’s exactly what I did."

- Gordon Ramsay

"Do not be afraid of cooking as your ingredients will know, and misbehave. Enjoy your cooking and the food will behave; moreover it will pass your pleasure on to those who eat it."

- Fergus Henderson

"Real food doesn’t have ingredients, real food is ingredients."

- Jamie Oliver

"A chef's palate is born out of his childhood, and one thing all chefs have in common is a mother who can cook."

- Marco Pierre White

"I feel like a princess with a knife. I've wanted to be an Iron Chef forever."

- Alex Guarnaschelli

"The role of a chef isn't to reinvent dishes but to tweak."

- Jean-Georges Vongerichten

"Play to each element’s strengths: use Salt to enhance, Fat to carry, and Acid to balance flavor."

- Samin Nosrat

"As a chef, I love to travel and taste different cuisine styles and different flavours."

- Jock Zonfrillo

"Being a great baker and pastry chef requires the upmost open mind. I try every dessert that comes my way!"

- Christina Tosi

"Even if the chef has a good business head, his focus should be behind kitchen doors. A business partner should take care of everything in front of the kitchen doors."

- Bobby Flay

"The worst food you'll ever eat will probably be prepared by a 'cook' who calls himself a 'chef.' Mark my words."

- Alton Brown

"A great chef is an artist that I truly respect."

- Robert Stack

"There's only one cook in the kitchen, only one chef. I let the soloists do their thing - you've gotta let a man do a solo the way he wants - but as far as picking the tunes and working on the arrangements, I take full responsibility for it."

- Gregg Allman

"'Chef' doesn't mean that you're the best cook, it simply means 'boss.'"

- Tom Colicchio

"One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another."

- Yotam Ottolenghi

"For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place."

- Wolfgang Puck

"To know how to eat well, one must first know how to wait."

- Marco Pierre White

"I always had a fantasy of being a chef, because I like kitchen life."

- Geoffrey Rush

"If you're not the one cooking, stay out of the way and compliment the chef."

- Michael Strahan

"Being a chef would be too much hard work."

- Sophie Ellis-Bextor

"My grandfather used to be a chef and I remember going to his restaurant to peel potatoes and clean his floor. He used to go out and kiss all the girls in the restaurant and I thought 'oh this is good... one day I want to be like him.'"

- Gino D'Acampo

"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

"As a chef my sense of taste and smell are extremely important. But of all the senses, sight is the one I'd fear losing most."

- Dave Myers

"I never even dreamed of being a chef, and that's fundamental."

- Ferran Adria

"You look at most of these 'best chef' lists, and there are about nine male chefs and one woman chef. The problem is still around."

- Dominique Crenn

"It's very important to me that people who are actual chefs and other professionals in the culinary world, understand that I'm not, and have never held myself out as being, like a CIA trained chef."

- Ted Allen

"I wasn't that great a chef, and I don't think I'm that great a writer."

- Anthony Bourdain

"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

"I don't have a nanny. I have a chef, and I have my assistant, and that's it. I do it myself. You know, those hours with your child are really important ones, even if it's just the two of you, being quiet in the car together."

- Melania Trump

"I swear, I didn't really go in thinking, 'I'll be the Simon Cowell' of 'Top Chef.' I was just used to being a judge on British food shows where people are much more outspoken and rather rude. That's the culture over here."

- Toby Young

"At home I’ve got 1,500 cookbooks and the spines have all gone, the pages are all torn – it’s chaos."

- Heston Blumenthal

"No great pastry chef has sweet teeth."

- Morley Safer

"The night before Tilbury, the Cordon Bleu gourmet dinner turned out Cordon Brown. Six out of ten to the chef for trying and ten out of ten to us for eating it."

- Spike Milligan

"Some days I'm Uncle Situation, other days I'm Dr. Situation, I'm Chef Situation."

- Michael Sorrentino

"Every chef I know, their cholesterol is through the roof. And mine's not so great."

- Anthony Bourdain

"When I am Naughty Chef, I'm definitely in focus mode, but once the food has been served I'm in a better place to party."

- Naughty Boy

"I hired a full-time chef, so I wasn't taking that time to order pizzas or eat Wild Wings or stuff like that. I travel somewhere, I'm gone for a long period, I have a chef. I think that elevated my game."

- D'Angelo Russell

"My boyfriend's a real chef, so I steer clear of him when I'm in the kitchen - I wouldn't like him to catch me chopping an onion."

- Alice Levine

"I'm not a chef, and I'm not an expert at anything. I'm just a mom and a wife."

- Ree Drummond

"If I'm in the 'hood, I like Chef Creole's Haitian rice and stewed chicken."

- DJ Khaled