A Gourmand's Life

Wikipedia describes a gourmand as “a person who takes great pleasure in food.” According to the Miriam Webster dictionary a gourmand is “a person who is excessively fond of eating and drinking.” What appeals to me about the second definition is that there is still a vestige of disapproval that clings to it, to the point where the French have advocated that the Catholic Church update the list of the Seven Deadly Sins by replacing “gourmandise” with “gloutonnerie”.

In the same spirit as the late, great eater R. W. Apple described himself as “more gourmand than gourmet”, I view life as one in which the search for good food encompasses eating at Michelin three-stars twice a day for a week, to hunting down the best dumpling house in NYC. Moderation plays no part.

Jason Sheehan wrote, “The world is full of fence-sitters, abstentious temperate fellows for whom a little is always enough, and I will not go down as one of their number.”