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{{Short description|Cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink}}
{{Other uses}}
'''Gourmet''' ({{IPAc-en|US|ɡ|ɔːr|ˈ|m|eɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|ɡ|ɔːr|m|eɪ}}) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or [[haute cuisine]], which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have an aesthetically pleasing presentation of several contrasting, often quite rich courses. 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 term and the related characteristics are typically used to describe people with more discerning palates and enthusiasm. Gourmet food is more frequently provided with small servings and in more upscale and posh fine dining establishments that cater to a more affluent and exclusive client base. When it comes to cooking gourmet dishes, there are also frequent cross-cultural interactions that introduce new, exotic, and expensive ingredients, materials, and traditions with more refined, complex, formal, and sophisticated high-level cooking and food preparation techniques.
==Origin of term==
The word ''gourmet'' is from the [[French language|French]] term for a wine broker or ''[[taste-vin]]'' employed by a wine dealer.<ref>Cotgrave's French-English dictionary of 1611, quoted by Jean-Louis Flandrin, whose chapter "Distinction Through Taste", in ''A History of Private Life: Passions of the Renaissance'' (Belknap Press, Harvard University) 1989:289-92, "Gluttons and Epicures", traces the significance of these French terms in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.</ref>  ''Friand'' was formerly the reputable name for a connoisseur of delicious things that were not eaten primarily for nourishment: "A good gourmet", wrote the conservative eighteenth-century ''[[Dictionnaire de Trévoux]]'', employing this original sense, "must have ''le goût friand''", or a refined palate. The pleasure is also visual: "J'aime un [[Ragout|ragoût]], et je suis friand", [[Giacomo Casanova]] declared, "mais s'il n'a pas bonne mine, il me semble mauvais".<ref>"I love a ragout, and I am a connoisseur, but if it isn't good-looking, it seems bad to me." (''Histoire de ma vie'', 8:ix) for Casanova the immediate question was whether a young woman of literary tastes would have been interesting if she had not been lovely.</ref>  In the eighteenth century, ''gourmet'' and ''gourmand'' carried disreputable connotations of [[gluttony]], which only ''gourmand'' has retained. ''Gourmet'' was rendered respectable by [[Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière|Monsieur Grimod de la Reynière]], whose ''Almanach des Gourmands'', essentially the first [[restaurant guide]], appeared in Paris from 1803 to 1812. Previously, even the liberal ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' offered a moralising tone in its entry ''Gourmandise'', defined as "refined and uncontrolled love of good food", employing reproving illustrations that contrasted the frugal ancient [[Sparta]]ns and [[Roman Republic]] with the decadent luxury of [[Sybaris]]. The [[Jesuits]]' ''Dictionnaire de Trévoux'' took the ''Encyclopédistes'' to task, reminding its readers that ''gourmandise'' was one of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
== Associated terms ==
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]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/26/features/author.php|title=In Arizona back country, a gourmet life|author=Charles McGrath|date=January 26, 2007|publisher=International Herald Tribune}}</ref>
''[[Gourmand]]'' carries additional connotations of one who enjoys food in great quantities.<ref>Brein, M.; Keller, T. (2013). ''Travel Tales of Michael Brein: My Best 100:''. The Travel Psychologist Travel Tales Series. Michael Brein Incorporated. p. 207. {{ISBN|978-1-886590-27-4}}.</ref>
An ''epicure'' is similar to a gourmet, but the word may sometimes carry overtones of excessive refinement.
A ''gourmet chef'' is used to refer to a [[chef]] with a particularly high caliber of cooking talent and culinary skill.
== Regional differences ==
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. Gourmet tended, and still does in many parts of the world, to be revered by a person with access to wealth because gourmet food has always been expensive. The expense was the result of a scarcity of ingredients for a particular food in the region at the time.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Economic Way of Thinking|edition=13th|last=Heyne, Paul; Boettke|first=Peter J.; Prychitko, David L.|publisher=Pearson.|year=2014|isbn=978-0-13-299129-2|location=London|pages=5–8}}</ref> This fact meant they needed to be brought in from far away, which brought a variety of risks to the merchants. Merchants would have to deal with weather conditions, thieves, and broken equipment, intermediaries, and other such factors that could delay or interrupt the shipment of the good at the cost of their lives and fortune.<ref>Diego Puga, Daniel Trefler; International Trade and Institutional Change: Medieval Venice’s Response to Globalization, ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'', Volume 129, Issue 2, 1 May 2014, Pages 753–821, {{doi|10.1093/qje/qju006}}</ref> Thus they asked for higher prices. For millennia, about 10% of the population could eat food that may have been considered gourmet in their time.<ref name=":0">Laudan, R. (2013). ''Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History''. University of California Press.</ref> Potentially 80% of the global population worked in food production and would have eaten more typical meals to survive.<ref name=":0" /> The typical meal would be what they could most easily get their hands on. In Britain, for instance, that was gruels, vegetables, small amounts of wild game, and grains.<ref>Pearson, K. (1997). Nutrition and the Early-Medieval Diet. ''Speculum,'' ''72''(1), 1-32. {{doi|10.2307/2865862}}</ref>
Another factor would be religious/cultural beliefs and customs, which have a significant impact on the food that was eaten. 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.<ref name=":1">[[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]] 14:6-8</ref><ref name=":2">"Pork (لَحم الخنزير) From the Quranic Arabic Corpus – Ontology of Quranic Concepts". Retrieved 29 December 2015.</ref> To eat specific food items they must be Kosher (for Jews) Jhatka (for Hindu) and Halal (for Muslims).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> One well-known example is that neither Jews nor Muslims can eat pork because they consider pigs to be unclean. Another example is that many people of India generally do not consume beef because many devout Hindus believe the cow is a sacred animal.<ref>Krishna, Nanditha (2014), ''Sacred Animals of India'', Penguin Books Limited, pp. 80, 101–108, {{ISBN|978-81-8475-182-6}}</ref> Buddhism's encouragement of adopting vegetarianism also limits what devout Buddhists can eat.<ref>Buddhism & Vegetarianism Archived 2013-10-21 at the [[Wayback Machine]].</ref> These practices and beliefs encourage what is not eaten in society but also what can be eaten. For instance, the Buddhists have a history of preparing and eating tofu to satisfy their dietary requirements for protein.<ref name=":0" /> There is also the role of the state when it comes to these issues sometimes dictating how meals should be prepared.<ref name=":0" /> An example of this would be that of edicts of Ashoka who declared that many animals shall be given decent treatment and limited the numbers that could be consumed.<ref name=":3">Chakravarti, Monmohan (1906). "Animals in the inscriptions of Piyadasi". ''Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal''. '''1''' (17): 361–374.</ref> Ashoka was a very devout Buddhist and that affected his policies.<ref name=":3" />
== Cultural exchange ==
This trading from non-local regions, also means, almost by necessity, that there was much cultural exchange between different groups to get these goods.<ref name=":4">Ley, Willy (December 1965). "The Healthfull Aromatick Herbe". For Your Information. ''Galaxy Science Fiction''. pp. 88–98.</ref> The Columbian Exchange introduced many ingredients and styles to the new world and Europe starting with the expansion of the Iberian Empires.<ref name=":4" /> The new world introduced to Europeans tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, and much more.<ref name=":4" /> Another example would be interactions with the Islamic world, which impacted Catholic cuisine in the 1100s.<ref name=":0" /> These interactions introduced many spices, the theory of the culinary cosmos, and cooking items such as North African pottery.<ref name=":0" /> These trades were facilitated by rich merchant states that traded with them, the most notable being Venice.<ref name=":0" />
==Food==
''Gourmet'' may describe a class of restaurant, [[cuisine]], meal or ingredient of high quality, of special presentation, or high sophistication. In the United States, a 1980s gourmet food movement evolved from a long-term division between elitist (or "gourmet") tastes and a populist aversion to fancy foods.<ref>{{cite book|title=The United States of Arugula:How We Became a Gourmet Nation|publisher=Doubleday Broadway|year=2006}}</ref> Gourmet is an industry classification for high-quality premium foods in the United States.  In the 2000s, there has been an accelerating increase in the American gourmet market, due in part to rising income, globalization of taste, and health and nutrition concerns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.packagedfacts.com/Gourmet-Specialty-Foods-1087756/|title=The U.S. Market for Gourmet and Specialty Foods and Beverages|publisher=Packaged Facts|date=September 2005}}</ref>  Individual food and beverage categories, such as coffee, are often divided between a standard and a "gourmet" sub-market.<ref>{{cite news|work=ABC News|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4559623&page=1|title=From McMuffins to McLattes:McDonald's Chases Gourmet Coffee Market, Plans Massive Restaurant Upgrade|author1=Vicki Mabrey |author2=Deborah Apton |date=March 31, 2008}}</ref>
==Gourmet pursuits==
Certain events such as [[wine tasting]]s cater to people who consider themselves gourmets and [[foodie]]s. Television programs (such as those on the [[Food Network]]) and publications such as ''[[Gourmet (magazine)|Gourmet]]'' magazine often serve gourmets with [[food column]]s and features.  Gourmet tourism is a niche industry catering to people who travel to food or wine tastings, restaurants, or food and wine production regions for leisure.<ref>{{cite book|title=Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases|author=Marina Novelli|year= 2004|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chow.com/grinder/tag/travel+industry+association+of+america |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070630233121/http://www.chow.com/grinder/tag/travel+industry+association+of+america |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 30, 2007 |title=Tour Buses on the Horizon |author=Christy Harrison |publisher=Travel Industry Association of America |date=March 7, 2007 }}</ref>
==Related concepts==
''[[Foodie]]'' is often used by the media as a conversational [[synonym]] for ''gourmet'', although it is a different concept (distinct from that of a food aficionado or food enthusiast). The word ''foodie'' was coined synchronously by [[Gael Greene]] in the magazine ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' and by [[Paul Levy (journalist)|Paul Levy]] and Ann Barr, co-authors of ''The Official Foodie Handbook'' (1984).
==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Delicatessen]]
* [[Fooding]] – a restaurant guide
* [[Gastronomy]]
* [[Michelin Guide]] – a restaurant guide
* [[Specialty foods]]
{{Clear}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Gourmet}}
* [https://www.theluxurypost.com/category/luxury-lifestyle/luxury-food Luxury food brands]
{{wiktionary|gourmet}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Gourmet|volume=12|page=288}}
{{Cuisine}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Culinary arts]]
[[Category:Food and drink appreciation]]
[[Category:Gastronomy by type]]