When Gourmet Means Big
A gourmet is a person who enjoys fine food - a connoisseur. So what is gourmet food? One would expect an exquisitely prepared meal with attention to taste, texture, and ingredients.
Or does gourmet just mean large?
Succulent pieces of shrimp
flavoured with herbs,
served with fresh greens and dipping sauce.
I once had a 'gourmet' burger. That turned out to be a huge hamburger bun liberally doused in mayonnaise - with a few pieces of oily chicken and avocado inside.
There is another word - gourmand. This word adds a gluttonous overtone - someone who enjoys good food in great quantities.
What's The Point?
Without arguing over semantics - the point of this is simple. Have we come to judge food by its volume? Why else do buffets and smorgasbords do so well?
If you paid full price for a 'real' gourmet meal, and the meal turned out to be small - would you be complaining about the size? Or would you be slowly savoring the delicate flavors and admiring the beautiful presentation?
We've lost something.
Food can be enjoyed. It can be savored, anticipated, and slowly consumed. It doesn't all have to be good or bad, guilty or innocent.
As for that so-called 'gourmet' burger - I tucked into it with great gusto. But then, with grim satisfaction, I left two-thirds of it on my plate - and the miserly penny-pincher in me died another quiet death.
Calories are quick and cheap. Real gourmet food is worth taking your time over.
I've found that the gourmet restaurants that I really enjoy still give you the accurate portion sizes and you do feel good after eating just that much. You know, a real sized dinner plate with actual white space around your food? And just a drizzling of sauces to allow you to appreciate the actual taste of the food, too? Not just a smothering of some overpowering sauce that hides the flavor of the meat it's poured over?
Every so often, we find a good gourmet restaurant with that kind of faire. Of course, we can only afford to eat there once in a blue moon, but it is a true treat when we do.
-Danielle
ReplyI've actually never connected "gourmet" with "large portion size" in my head. I've always thought of "gourmet" meaning it had some specialty ingredients in it that set it apart from regular food. So I guess if I paid good money for "gourmet" food, I'd expect that it cost more because they used better ingredients. We have a bakery here that makes "gourmet" muffins that are made with organic ingredients and they come in very different flavors. They aren't huge, but they are expensive and they are delicious.
Reply*claps* nice job. I'm oddly proud of you for leaving the rest of that burger. :)
ReplyAnd I agree with Spectra about the Gourmet thing. It's about Quality. Always.
Or at least it should be.
To me, gourmet means amazingly delicious, or exotic or both and expensive, consumed in small quantities. That or really healthy (ie: organic, good for you foods), great tasting with a variety of ingredients (some of which are exotic or uncommon) and also somewhat expensive.
Gourmet means I can't afford it.
ReplyI'm glad I live in DC with lots of relatively affordable ethnic restaurants and not in some suburb with just a Red Lobster and a TGI Friday's. That would suck.
I actually expect a fine resteraunt to serve me a small portion of excellent food. Were I to recieve a large portion of sub-par food, I would send it back. Life is too short to spend serious money on bad food.
ReplyNice work leaving the food on your plate. That is always the hardest thing in the world for me to do. This weekend was a break through though. I actually managed to order the steamed vegatables with my sandwich instead of the French fries, and then left some of the sandwich on the plate. First time i had ever actually requested a healthy substitution.
ReplyGourmet does not nor has it ever meant “big” with respect to food portions.
At some point during the last ten or fifteen years we have lost all accuracy and meaning in our language in part due to the brainwashing (advertising) done by big business and our government.
We in fact do not have gourmet restaurants in this country, we have gourmand restaurants.
He is the difference:
Gourmet - a connoisseur of fine food and drink.
Gourmand - a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess.
If you want to go to a gourmet restaurant, go to Paris.
www.antiagingatlanta.com
ReplyGourmet to me means a small amount of food but nothing but the best ingredients. So, if I could afford it, I'd rather go for gourmet than gourmand.
We have a local producer of sherbet who makes it only from real fruits with very little sugar added. It is full of fibre and tastes like heaven. Of course it's not available all year long, depending on what fruits are in season.
I go without ice-cream all year knowing that I get a tiny little pot of it (devilishly expensive) on special days like my birthday. So less calories but more enjoyment for me.
That being said, I know several people who complained about the tiny portions after having been to gourmet restaurants. It depends on attitude, I suppose.
Replywow another JJ on here, hey, Nic I have to say, I grew up in b-more and now I am in Red lobster- t-j friday land , uck, I can related to what you are saying.
ReplyTo tell you the truth, I never see the point in having huge plates with a teey tiny portion on it and masses of white space. While Supersize is ridiculous, if I'm paying a lot for a meal, I want it to fill me up.
ReplyI understand that everyone on here feels that gourmet has to do with size and price. Actually gourmet doesn't have to do with price or size. It has to do with quality food NO PRESERVATIVES!! That is hard to do in America. A true gourmet will not worry about carbs or calories. they want it all real no sugar susitutes, no margrine, etc... They want quality food. My husband and I know right away if something hasn't been made by hand. after all that is what we do at our restaurant. We are foodies not Gourmets. We feel that the word "Gourmet is to pretnetious of a word, although I have my moments. America feel that if the box says it is gourmet it is, and that is so far from the truth. things that you have created in the kitchen with natural ingrediences is gourmet! just add a little presentation to it. You will b amazed at what fresh herbs can do! One of the books that I really enjoyed on diet or not diet is "French Women Don't get fat" by,Mireille Guilliano.I was so intreged by her book because she said everything that I prech. Even if you don't believe it it's a good book.
ReplyI eat a Gourmet diet! Yes it's a pretentious word but I love my food and eat accordingly. I also exercise too, but I think the main thing is how you cook your food and what you eat. I keep a record on my blog (see the link).
ReplyPeople are confusing the meaning of gourmet, this has direct relationship with the taste of the food, not the size or price. Food that has been prepared with the finest groceries, and uses plants as condiments, and complete with a atractive presentation in a big or medium dish but always with that small detail that makes it special.
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