Family Mealtime Quotes

I have many memories of waking up to eat breakfast that my mother carefully prepared for us and her saying, what do y'all want for lunch, and as we're eating lunch, what do y'all want for dinner? It's always about the next meal.

I like to cook. We always sit down together, my daughter and I, and have dinner - baked chicken breast or a piece of fish with green beans, rice or potatoes. And I love pasta.

Back in the really olden days, dinner was seldom a ceremonial event for U.S. families. Only the very wealthy had a separate dining room. For most, meals were informal, a kind of rolling refueling; often only the men sat down.

I never cooked at home - my father was the chef.

I think family mealtime is really important. There's a lot of research that shows kids are going to do better in school and have more self-esteem if you can all sit down and eat together.

There is nothing so important in the family as the sacred quality of the meal.

It's really great to get your kids involved in the kitchen. Not only will they have an appreciation for food, but their palates will expand.

I cook at home all the time and really enjoy it. It's fun family time and we all chip in and help out. We do a lot with our outdoor grill, a lot of chicken or shrimp, and every meal includes veggies.

I will be up at 8 A.M. making spaghetti bolognese for Peter and Sophia's evening meal if I'm working that day. I may not get back for the evening, and I worry if I don't do that, then they won't eat anything.

Give your kids a bloody knife and fork and let me put some fresh food in front of them they can eat.

My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.

I love to cook for my husband and daughter. I enjoy going to the market for fresh vegetables.

My mother's side of the family is Methodist, which is how I was raised. It was conservative in that I had strong values - sitting down and eating with the family every day, listening to authority and going to church every week and having perfect attendance at Sunday school.

I believe in breakfast. It's the one meal that my kids usually eat without a fuss, so that's huge. As for myself, I can't function without it, and I see it as a great way to get some healthy greens in, some coffee, and on a good day, maybe even some news of the world via the newspaper.

But, you know, they don't enjoy the dinner hour together. It's just not as much of a ritual at night and it's interesting. I think the ritual is taking place perhaps more in the morning.

Cooking with your kids and engaging them in hands-on activities are two ways to begin to educate children about the healthy eating, and kick start the important task to help change how the younger generation looks at food and nutrition.

A dining room table with children's eager hungry faces around it, ceases to be a mere dining room table, and becomes an altar.

All my kids are great, because of my mother. Every Sunday, we're over there at my parents' place for lunch.

I talk about the food issue, I'm really coming at it from pre-White House times, when I was a working mother with a busy husband, a very demanding job and two little kids to feed.... I had to learn what it means to feed and care for your kids in a country where fast food is abundant, where time is a rarity, where eating out is a trend, because families are so busy.... Yes, I'm First Lady, but I know the struggles.

When I was a child, we never began a meal without prayer. We thanked God for the food, for each other.

I did want to share with you one of the greatest lessons I've learned over the years cooking for my kids - there is enormous value in bringing children into the kitchen.

Choose wisely, then eat in moderation. When I know I'm going to Mom's for dinner, I throw an extra 20 minutes on the cardio machine so I can be ready to eat.

Eating at home is fine, as I can easily work around the foods that don't agree with me and still eat heartily with the rest of my family. I don't force them to follow my diet.

So when I do Chinese cooking, I mix everything together, then the kids have to eat their vegetables. They won't have the patience to pick them out.

I don't do dinner parties. I have people come to share the food I've cooked for the family.