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| Renowned author Michael Herr is back guest-blogging on this awesome Aloha Friday talking about the difference between connoisseurs and common sewers. ;D)... Make sure and check out Michael's website at; http://www.michaelherr.com/ |
Gourmet or Gourmand ? Oh, heck, let's just eat.
Aloha folks,
Contradiction: I love to eat . . . but I have little taste. By that I mean that I am no gourmet. I have taste buds, but my stomach more often dictates my eating.
I enjoy food, but I probably do not appreciate it to the degree that some would say I should. For example, I don't like oysters. Miss Manners says that they are the first course of a dinner. I guess I'll come late to that dinner. I have eaten them barbecued . . . but raw? No thank you.
Truffles? Caviar? Other little fancy things? Forget them, where are the pizza rolls?
I love meat, but while I can tell the difference between chuck steak and fillet Mignon I'm happy to eat either one. As long as the steak is rare, very rare.
Wine? I know there's red and white and in-between. But a great wine versus a merely good wine? It's all the same to me. Though I do love champagne . . . mostly for the bubbles.
Coffee? It’s great, as long as you put enough Splenda and cream in it. But a premium roast or a truck stop brew? All the same to me.No, I'm definitely not a gourmet. I like what I like and I like my servings to be ample.
According to the following definition, I must be more of a gourmand.
"According to some, there is technically no difference in Modern English between the terms gourmet and gourmand. Both have the meaning typically ascribed to gourmet, a person who enjoys and appreciates fine food. However, the two terms differ in their connotative meanings."
Many English speakers feel that gourmand implies a tendency towards gluttony and that a gourmet is a somewhat more reserved individual. The first may be more of a hedonist and the second considered more of a critic, though both are connoisseurs. In older or more conservative usage, gourmand is closer in meaning to glutton."
Glutton? Me? I was going to protest this, but several unpleasant remembrances of time spent in some chilly porcelain bathroom following an evening of excessive eating force me to conclude that, yes, I may indeed be a gourmand. But I prefer that term to glutton.
Okay folks, see you next week.
check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/
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