“A chef is a man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day” is a jocular definition of a chef and a simplistic explanation of soup. The joke was printed in The Evening Star (Washington, DC) on June 24, 1912.
Chronicling America
24 June 1912, The Evening Star (Washington, DC), pg. 6, col. 3:
A Question of Title.
“After another season,” said Farmer Corntossel, “I guess we’ll have a chef.”
“What’s a chef?” asked his wife.
“A chef is a man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day.”
Google Books
The Literary Digest
Volume 120, Part 1
1935
Pg. 84:
“A chef is a man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day.” — Washington Evening Star.
Google Books
14,000 Quips & Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pg. 184:
A chef is a man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day.
Google Books
More God’s Abundance:
Joyful Devotions for Every Season
By Kathy C. Miller
Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers
1999
Pg. 258:
Remember, a chef is a person with a big enough vocabulary to give soup a different name every day, so when you serve this dish to your family, be creative.
Twitter
Gisnap
@Gisnap
A good cook is smart enough to give the same soup a different name every time.
12:04 PM - 17 Oct 2008
Twitter
Peter Barmes
@baker464
“A chef is a man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day.”
2:05 PM - 5 Jan 2011
Twitter
Rick Brutti
@Rbrutti
Chef: A man with a big enough vocabulary to give the soup a different name every day.
4:54 PM - 12 Sep 2015
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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