The proverbial saying ‘You are what you eat’ is the notion that to be fit and healthy you need to eat good food.

‘You are what you eat’ has come to into the English language by quite a meandering route. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826:

“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are].