Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Hungry like a wolf

bloviatrix

By bloviatrix
in Food Traditions & Culture

 Share

Recommended Posts

bloviatrix

bloviatrix

Posted
Posted

One of my all-time favorite food related similes was when Selena Roberts, (NY Times) covering a Knicks playoff game, described Allan Houston as "curled around Dan Majerle as tightly as a stripe on a candy cane," I just loved the imagery.

So, as I read the paper this morning, I came across another great line. This time in an article about eagles being spotted in Manhattan:

Like northern suburbanites heading south to find fresh fish at Le Bernardin, eagles have been heading toward Manhattan in search of catfish, eels and shad because the lakes and streams farther north are mostly iced over.

Does anyone else have any favorites they care to share?

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted

It's not a simile, but I'm always fascinated when people say

I could eat a horse.

I mean could they, really?

Okay, how about:

Like white on rice.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted

Oh, wait...

eat like a pig.

Duh, that one's obvious. :smile:

also,

Sweet as Candy

and I've also heard the variant

Sweet as Pie

Both being terms of affection to describe someone who is innocent and "nice."

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

Brad Ballinger

Brad Ballinger

Posted
Posted

From Leo Kottke's "Jack Gets Up"...

and your kid has a face like a walnut from the ice cream

We cannot employ the mind to advantage when we are filled with excessive food and drink - Cicero

JPW

JPW

Posted
Posted

as happy as a kid in a candy store

slower than molasses in January

And my all time favorite(s) are the variants on : (S)he's a few sandwiches short of a picnic

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

fifi

fifi

Posted
Posted

Here is one I never have understood... Southern origin, I think.

"Why, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth." Seems like if that were the case, "her" mouth is cold. But I think it means overbearing sweetness. Huh? :blink:

Then there is...

Like gravy on rice.

Like a duck on a June bug. (OK... the bug is food to the duck.)

Your goose is cooked.

I am not sure this is exactly food related but, in my family, when a kid asked where they came from, the answer would be... "A buzzard burped you up."

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

ludja

ludja

Posted
Posted (edited)
Here is one I never have understood... Southern origin, I think.

"Why, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth." Seems like if that were the case, "her" mouth is cold. But I think it means overbearing sweetness. Huh? :blink:

I thought it meant something more along the lines of the person being very 'hard', 'unfeeling' coming from 'cold-hearted' or 'cold-blooded'...

edited to say: comment from a born and bred yankee who only lived in the south for awhile so I could be all wrong! :raz:

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

Brad Ballinger

Brad Ballinger

Posted
Posted
"Why, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth." Seems like if that were the case, "her" mouth is cold. But I think it means overbearing sweetness. Huh?

Doesn't mean overbearing sweetness at all. The phrase appears as a song lyric on Nick Lowe's "Homewreckery" on his album, The Convincer....

You look like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth,

But I know it will, homewrecker.

You look like you could take candy from a baby.

I've seen you do it, homewrecker.

We cannot employ the mind to advantage when we are filled with excessive food and drink - Cicero

Mudpuppie

Mudpuppie

Posted
Posted
Here is one I never have understood... Southern origin, I think.

"Why, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth." Seems like if that were the case, "her" mouth is cold. But I think it means overbearing sweetness. Huh? :blink:

I thought it meant something more along the lines of the person being very 'hard', 'unfeeling' coming from 'cold-hearted' or 'cold-blooded'...

edited to say: comment from a born and bred yankee who only lived in the south for awhile so I could be all wrong! :raz:

Bingo.

Also means stuck-up, which is in a sense another way to say "cold."

amanda

Googlista

Lone Star

Lone Star

Posted
Posted

"Darker than midnight under a skillet"

"He's all broth and no beans"

If you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen - Calpurnia

phaelon56

phaelon56

Posted
Posted

I've always liked the phrase "like white on rice".

"A few cans shy of a six pack" is in the "few sandwiches shy of a picnic" category.

How about "now we're cookin' with grease"

I can also think of one about eating peanuts but it's far too gross for public.... uhhh... consumption.

JPW

JPW

Posted
Posted
How about "now we're cookin' with grease"

Almost forgot - the MIL's favorite saying is

"Now we're cookin' with GAS"

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

Mudpuppie

Mudpuppie

Posted
Posted

Salt of the earth

You're a [______]

*ham

*lamb

*peach

*plum

*nut

*fruitcake

*chowderhead

*cheesehead

*milquetoast (?)

Not similes, but metaphors, anyway.

amanda

Googlista

ludja

ludja

Posted
Posted
"Darker than midnight under a skillet"

"He's all broth and no beans"

:laugh: excellent; I need to remember these!

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

ludja

ludja

Posted
Posted

You're a [______]

*ham

*lamb

*peach

*plum

*nut

*fruitcake

*chowderhead

*cheesehead

*milquetoast (?)

Mon petit chouchou

or for e-gulleteers:

my little roasted cauliflower :smile:

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

fifi

fifi

Posted
Posted

And... The bad apple.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

  • 3 weeks later...
bloviatrix

bloviatrix

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I thought this article opener about the forthcoming NY primary (it appeared in the Times last Friday) was particularly au courant:

For too long, a juicy Democratic primary for the most excitable New Yorkers has been like a reservation at Per Se for foodies - something to dream about, but not terribly likely to get.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

hillvalley

hillvalley

Posted
Posted

He's not just some dumb, he's plum dumb.

True Heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost,

but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. -Arthur Ashe

 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...