Eat well, for life is short. A Milanese call to enjoy the pleasures of the table without guilt — the brevity of life justifies the investment in good food.
Milan's restaurant culture is one of the richest in Italy, reflecting centuries of agricultural abundance in the Po Valley, trade routes that brought spices, game, and luxury ingredients from across Europe and the East, and a wealthy merchant class willing to spend on quality. The risotto alla milanese with its precious saffron, the costoletta alla milanese, the ossobuco, the panettone — Milanese cuisine is abundant, generous, and unapologetic. This proverb belongs to the tradition of Epicurean philosophy translated into vernacular common sense: since death is certain and life brief, the pleasure of a good meal is not extravagance but wisdom. The saying gained particular resonance during and after the Second World War, when wartime rationing made ordinary food scarce and postwar abundance felt like a recovered right. The postwar economic miracle transformed Italian food culture, and Milan led the transformation from a city of deprivation to a capital of gastronomic sophistication.
Reflects the transformation of Milan's food culture from wartime scarcity to postwar abundance; the risotto alla milanese and costoletta are the emblematic dishes around which this philosophy crystallised.
Justifying a splurge at an expensive restaurant
Costa molto, ma magna ben ca la vita l'è curta. Prendiamo il menu degustazione.
It costs a lot, but eat well for life is short. Let's take the tasting menu.
A retired man ordering a second helping
A ottant'anni? Magna ben ca la vita l'è curta. Un altro po' di risotto non ha mai fatto male a nessuno.
At eighty years old? Eat well for life is short. A little more risotto never hurt anyone.
Friends debating whether to splurge on ingredients
La mozzarella di bufala invece di quella normale? Magna ben ca la vita l'è curta.
Buffalo mozzarella instead of regular? Eat well for life is short.
A chef's philosophy
Non cucino per sopravvivere, cucino per vivere. Magna ben ca la vita l'è curta — è la mia filosofia.
I don't cook to survive, I cook to live. Eat well for life is short — that's my philosophy.