RIP Gourmet (the Magazine). Let's Kill the Word "Gourmet"

[xxchef]

I don't think we do need a new word. Look around eG Forums: there's a remarkably wide range of people posting here who don't fit neatly into a single term. Restaurant nuts who haven't prepared a meal themselves in a decade; people who obsess about one cuisine and are happily ignorant of others; chocolatiers, mixologists, charcutiers; newbies and veterans; professionals, passionate amateurs, and the curious. What word could encompass us all?

I dunno. The "eGulleteers"??

OK. Maybe not.

[Dakki]

1/3 is 33.333...%, which is greater than 15%?

I'm going to say practically everyone I know cares about what they eat. Their preferences just aren't as developed and they aren't as strict about them as people on a comestibles enthusiast ( ) forum can be expected to be.

"Really like the fries from McD's" is a food preference, just not what you'd expect from an educated palate.

I think pretty much everyone would eat better (and healthier) if they were exposed to good food on a regular basis. It's basically just a question of education.

[hsm]

Super Markets with "Gourmet Isles" merchandising Marzipan, Brisling Sardines, Mole Sauce, German Sauerkraut and Red Cabbage, Maggi Soups and Biscotti.

Contact your local Market and request, no, demand: "do the world a service and retire the word 'Gourmet' for good

Ok, but who will call Fancy Feast and tell them to knock off the Gourmet Cat Food. (Just for the record, that killed gourmet for me.)

[xxchef]

One of the problems is that "gourmet" has been used so indiscriminately and used so broadly as to have lost all significance. It has come to (supposedly) mean a connoisseur of anything from food, wine and liqueurs to cigars, footware and cat & dog food. If we're talking only about human food and drink we need a term more culinary-specific.

I don't find "gastronome" too objectionable. It doesn't seem to have the elitist ring that "gourmet" used to, nor the over-used worthlessness that word has today. I like the thoughtfulness about ones cooking/eating that is implied with the word gastronome. Of course the root of the word is French and it seems like there is some resistance to that on general principles. It also might bring with it some etymological baggage like associations with "gastric juices" or "gastropods" (snails). On the other hand, snails are delicious so maybe there's a double entendre working for us there. Then again, we're possibly back to the French connection with the whole escargot thing.

How about "epicure" or "epicurean"? The base, I believe, is Latin (not French) and it certainly speaks to discriminating tastes in food and beverage. Might be too elitist-sounding, although I think it is important to be able to make the distinction between people who have an interest in eating well and those who just eat. Is that elitist? I suppose so if we are saying that it is better to eat well then just eat. OK I'm an elitist, I guess. There are also some hedonistic roots and implications to the whole "epicure"-family of terms that may be objectionable.

"Culinarian"? Too cooking-oriented and not enough consumption-oriented I think.

Culinologist? Epicureaist? (kind of like like "mixologist"?) Not sure making up a word is the way to go. Too technical-sounding anyway.

Alright, back to the drawing board.

Edited February 28, 2010 by xxchef (log)