The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

This proverb suggests that affection and influence are often won through practical care—especially the everyday, intimate act of feeding someone. In its common use, it reduces romantic persuasion to domestic comfort: good meals stand in for attention, stability, and a sense of being looked after. At the same time, the saying reflects gendered expectations in 19th‑ and early 20th‑century Anglo-American culture, where women’s cooking and household labor were framed as tools for securing male approval. Read critically, it can be taken as both a wry observation about human nature and a reminder of how courtship and marriage were historically tied to domestic service.

1) "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." 2) "The surest way to a man's heart is through his stomach." 3) "The shortest way to a man's heart is through his stomach."