La fame non ha capricci né ghiottonerie
Pinocchio (Tania Zamorsky Edition)La fame non ha capricci né ghiottonerie is a maxim about hunger overcoming picky taste. Its force comes from the scene that prompts it: Pinocchio eats eagerly a food he had previously found revolting, and the Dove turns that reversal into a concise lesson about necessity.
The Saying and Its Meaning
The expression states that genuine hunger leaves no room for whims or delicacies. Rather than presenting the idea as an abstract rule, the episode grounds it in an abrupt change of appetite: what Pinocchio once rejected becomes welcome when there is nothing else to eat.
The Scene of Its Application
While traveling with the Dove toward the seashore, Pinocchio says he is very hungry. They stop in an empty dovecote containing a basin of water and a basket full of vetches. Pinocchio had never been able to stomach them; their taste made him feel sick. Yet that evening he eats his fill and, when he has nearly finished the basket, admits that he had not thought vetches could be so good.
Narrative and Moral Function
The Dove answers by explaining that when hunger is real and no other food is available, even vetches become delicious. Pinocchio’s changed judgment supplies the evidence for the maxim: necessity has not altered the food, but it has changed what he can accept. The saying thus links a practical observation to the episode’s humor and moral instruction, making appetite itself the measure of how circumstances can overturn a child’s preferences.
