2012 In Review: 15 Best Quotes From Musicians Talking About Food

"I try not to eat a lot before shows. For instance, the last show I had was in Dayton, Ohio and I ate like a lobster roll at some random place. It was actually really bangin'. It depends on what city we’re at. If we’re in Philadelphia, we eat cheesesteaks all day." — Lupe Fiasco

"Almost all the DJs we know are really into food. You end up travelling all over the place and usually the people from the club will take you to an interesting restaurant, so you get exposed to all sorts of different food. I know some DJs — I'm not naming names — who choose to play in certain places because of a particularly good restaurant there; that's a step too far I think." — Simian Mobile Disco

"My friend in Philly designs the alcohol menu for the Vetri restaurants and got me into Negronis hardcore. We got a barrel here at our house and I’ve been aging my own kind of Negronis. Artichoke Negronis." — Black Moth Super Rainbow

"We always had them on the rider — bananas for potassium to keep us going, and champagne for keeping your head bubbly. It’s the perfect combination. You can’t have an apple in a club — it'll get slippery and gross — but a banana is perfect because you open it up and it’s all fresh inside." — Dada Life

"I don’t want to eat animals. There are some health arguments for vegetarianism, but I think that the only real argument is whether it is cool or not to kill beings of life in order to eat them, and I don’t think it is for me." — John Darnielle

"The chefs are the new rock stars, there is no question about it. My grandfather was a chef and, believe me, he was poor. He didn’t have a brand-new car or was living in a big old house like Mario, Emeril and the boys. They have become superstars and people like watching their every move." — Sammy Hagar

"Anywhere in the 'dirty south' is my favorite by far. Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Chapel Hill and Richmond have great authentic food. I make it a point to find the best place every city has to offer and usually I find a place that is pretty fantastic." — White Denim

"The only stuff we really need to have [on our tour rider] is Throat Coat [tea], Halls and water. You don’t want to project a picky image with promoters as a band. 'Get me caviar,' that’s not us. We’re into food, but we’re not going to get a promoter to buy us fancy stuff." — Chromeo

"One of the most traditional dishes is one of the tracks on my album – fårikål – it translates to 'sheep and cabbage.' It is basically lamb meat put into a pot with green cabbage, placed in layers, and left to boil in water for two or three hours. It’s really good!" — Lindstrøm

"It hit me when I moved to New York how important food is to me, how comforting it is. If you go to a place where a Dominican is cooking Dominican food, you can’t go wrong. You go out to eat at a nice restaurant in New York, your brain is always turned on." — Twin Shadow

"The one thing I don’t like about San Francisco cuisine, and a lot of cuisine now, is just because you can doesn’t mean you should. If you make a 'Manwich' you need like the can of Manwich and some ground beef. You don’t need to have a 17-hour reduction with a Manwich. You just don’t need that. You don’t need artisanal homemade pickles." — Thee Oh Sees

"I’ve scheduled layovers, too. I scheduled one in Denver just so that I could go to the first-ever Chipotle! I had a friend pick me up and take me and then they gave me a tour of it. They took me down to the basement where the original Chipotle guy sat at his desk. They showed me some meat cleavers — the original cutting up of the chicken — and gave me a shirt and everything. I have pictures! It was amazing." — Mick Boogie

"Irn Bru is a soft drink, or soda as you say in America. It's the biggest selling soda in Scotland and we're one of the only countries in the world where Coca-Cola isn't the biggest selling soft drink. It has a secret recipe and only two men know it and they aren't allowed to get on the same plane as each other in case the plane crashes and they lose the recipe forever! It's great for a hangover!" — The Twilight Sad

"I'm pretty lucky that I travel around the world and always find one guy in a city who lives there and knows the place. I just went to Mexico City and went to the coolest taco place. For me food is really life. It's the most important thing to eat right, so that's where I like to spend money." — Boys Noize

"It is pretty cool [when you hear a song of yours playing in a restaurant], and makes you realize that your music is out there and alive and shows up in people’s lives, either because they choose it or by chance." — Sondre Lerche