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GOURMET

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 288 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOURMET , a See also:

French See also:term for one who takes a refined and See also:critical, or even merely theoretical See also:pleasure in See also:good cooking and the delights of the table. The word has not the disparaging sense attached to the Fr. gourmand, to whom the See also:practical pleasure of good eating is the See also:chief end. The O. Fr. groumel or gromet meant a servant, or See also:shop-boy, especially one employed in a See also:wine-seller's shop, hence an See also:expert taster of wines, from which the See also:modern usage has See also:developed. The See also:etymology of gourmet is obscure; it may be ultimately connected with the See also:English " See also:groom " (q.v.). The origin of gourmand is unknown. In English, in the See also:form " grummet," the word was See also:early applied to a See also:cabin or See also:ship's boy. See also:Ships of the Cinque Ports were obliged to carry one " grummet "; thus in a See also:charter of 1229 (quoted in the New English See also:Dictionary) it is laid down servitia inde debita Domino Regi, xxi. naves, et in qualibet See also:nave xxi. homines, cum uno gartione qui dicitur gromet.

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