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 allá milanese with its precious saffron, the costoletta allá 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 allá 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.
Cuesta mucho, pero come bien que la vida es corta. Pidamos el menú degustación.
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.
¿A los ochenta años? Come bien que la vida es corta. Un poco más de risotto nunca hizo daño a nadie.
Friends debating whether to splurge on ingredients
La mozzarella di bufala invece di quella normale? Magna ben ca la vita l'è curta.
¿Mozzarella de búfala en lugar de la normal? Come bien que la vida es corta.
A chef's philosophy
Non cucino per sopravvivere, cucino per vivere. Magna ben ca la vita l'è curta — è la mia filosofia.
No cocino para sobrevivir, cocino para vivir. Come bien que la vida es corta — esa es mi filosofía.