“L'appetito vien mangiando”

The Story Behind It

This proverb began as a literal observation: doctors and cooks in Renaissance Italy noted that people who thought they were not hungry often found, once they began eating, that their appetite increased rapidly. The physiological observation — that digestion triggers appetite rather than suppressing it — was documented by Renaissance physicians and quickly became a popular metaphor for the self-reinforcing nature of desire in all its forms. Rabelais cited a French version of the proverb in Gargantua (1534), and the Italian form is recorded in collections of the same period. Over time the proverb detached entirely from its culinary origins and became a general statement about how ambition, greed, curiosity, and desire all grow rather than diminish once indulged. It is used in both approving and cautionary senses: approvingly, when someone discovers a new passion through first experience; cautionarily, when someone's greed or ambition seems to expand dangerously with each satisfaction. In Italian food culture the phrase retains its literal meaning and is used affectionately when someone who claimed not to be hungry ends up eating enthusiastically.

Began as a Renaissance medical observation; cited in Rabelais's Gargantua (1534) in French form; Italian version recorded in the same period.

Examples in Use

Themes