The article deals with reconstruction of the macro-concept of eating behaviour based on Russian and English proverbs from linguocultural and psycholinguistic perspectives. The relevance of the research is determined by the growing interest in food practices as carriers of social norms and self-regulation scenarios embedded in stable speech formulas. The scientific novelty lies in combining the semiotics of food images with the interpretation of their regulatory function as regulatory micro-instructions for behaviour and as a "social instruction" embedded in collective experience. The material comprises Russian and English proverbs and sayings selected from lexicographic sources. The comparative analysis, semantic-interpretive and discourse analysis have been applied in the study. The following thematic fields (micro-concepts) are identified: labour and food, moderation and self-restraint, scarcity and distribution, hospitality, health. It is established that the Russian proverbial system consolidates eating behaviour through collective practices of the table and the ethics of "simple sufficiency", while the English tradition emphasizes rationality of choice, resource pragmatics, and validation through practice.