Although there are delicious dishes, if you don’t eat them, you don’t know their purpose. From "Book of Rites." "Xue Ji"

Notes:

"Although there are fine dishes" even if there are beautiful dishes. Although, even; Jia, beautiful; food, cooked food is "food", which refers to fish and the like.

"You don't know its purpose when you eat it." If you don't taste it (with your own mouth), you won't know how delicious it is. Fu, no; Zhi, it tastes delicious.

Extended reading:

Original text:

Although there are fine dishes, one cannot eat them without knowing their purpose; although there is a perfect way, one cannot study them and do not know their goodness. Therefore, after learning, you will not know enough, and after teaching, you will be trapped. If you know your shortcomings, you can reflect on yourself; if you know your difficulties, you can improve yourself. Therefore, it is said: Teaching and learning are mutually reinforcing.

Translation:

Although there are delicious delicacies, if you don’t eat them, you won’t know how delicious they are; even though you have good knowledge and knowledge, if you don’t learn them, you won’t know how delicious they are. I don’t know what’s good about it. Because of the above reasons, those who learn deeply understand their own shortcomings after learning, and those who teach will also encounter things they do not understand in the process of teaching others to solve their problems. Students who know their own shortcomings will be able to reflect on themselves; teachers who understand their own confusion will be able to constantly strive for self-improvement. What is said above is the principle that education and learning promote each other and complement each other.