'Lucile: Part 1, Canto 2'

We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man can not live without cooks.
He may live without books, -- what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope,  -- what is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love,  -- what is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?
	-- Owen Meredith