On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Historically the ingredients used in the meal tended to be rare for the region, which could also be impacted by the local state and religious customs. The word gourmet is from the French term for a gourmet waffles broker or taste-vin employed by a wine dealer.

The term gourmet can refer to a person with refined or discriminating taste who is knowledgeable in the craft and art of food and food preparation. Gourmand carries additional connotations of one who enjoys food in great quantities. An epicure is similar to a gourmet, but the word may sometimes carry overtones of excessive refinement. A gourmet chef is a chef of particularly high caliber of cooking talent and skill. What is considered gourmet is different depending on the time and geographic region. What is gourmet historically depended upon what ingredients the people of that region had access to and how easily they acquire them.

For instance, seafood could be considered a luxury in an area that lacks fish, whereas it would not be seen as such in an area near the ocean or a great river. For instance, Jewish and Islamic cultures have rules for not only what they can eat, but how to prepare the food and what it can be paired with. This trading from non-local regions, also means, almost by necessity, that there was much cultural exchange between different groups to get these goods. The Columbian Exchange introduced many ingredients and styles to the new world and Europe starting with the expansion of the Iberian Empires. Gourmet may describe a class of restaurant, cuisine, meal or ingredient of high quality, of special presentation, or high sophistication.

Certain events such as wine tastings cater to people who consider themselves gourmets and foodies. 1989:289-92, “Gluttons and Epicures”, traces the significance of these French terms in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I love a ragout, and I am a connoisseur, but if it isn’t good-looking, it seems bad to me. Casanova the immediate question was whether a young woman of literary tastes would have been interesting if she had not been lovely.

In Arizona back country, a gourmet life”. Travel Tales of Michael Brein: My Best 100:. The Travel Psychologist Travel Tales Series. Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History.

Sacred Animals of India, Penguin Books Limited, pp. Vegetarianism Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Animals in the inscriptions of Piyadasi”. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The United States of Arugula:How We Became a Gourmet Nation.

Market for Gourmet and Specialty Foods and Beverages”. Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases. Look up gourmet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikiquote has quotations related to Gourmet. To save this word, you’ll need to log in. Two blocks west at the Euro Food Depot, a handful of customers wearing blue Qualcomm lanyards browsed the aisles of the small import market selling hard-to-find gourmet items from France like chestnut spread, pork rillettes and foie gras mousse.

Drai’s rooftop playhouse offers music lovers 30,000 square feet of slip-proof pool deck to get low on, plus luxury cabanas, day beds, two full-service bars, palm trees and a full-service gourmet cafe. 5 for a single perfect Sumo mandarin orange, flown in by New Sagaya, the city’s largest gourmet market. Julia O’malley, New York Times, 20 Feb. The restaurant offers made-from-scratch gourmet mac and cheese in 15 varieties, such as pizza mac and cheese, Philly cheesesteak mac and cheese and goat cheese mac and cheese. In the main area, guests dined on meatballs, gourmet chicken wings and all manner of fruit. 10 and live music, local produce, plants, exotic flowers, herbs, baked goods, gourmet foods, teas, coffee and specialty pet products at the Waterfront Commons in downtown West Palm Beach. Jennifer Jhon, South Florida Parenting, 14 Feb.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘gourmet. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Subscribe to America’s largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Get Word of the Day daily email! I went to the ______ store to buy a birthday card.