James Beard
The term "gourmet", like so many other terms associated with enjoyment of the senses, has become something of a pejorative of late. If you google the word you will get all sorts of negative impressions. I am proud to call myself a gourmet because, to me, being a gourmet is merely a love of life expressed through dining. Dining that makes
you happy. Good dining.
Gourmet dining does not require an expense account or a healthy bank balance although those items are never an impediment to high living. What gourmet dining requires is a certain state of mind. An enthusiasm for life and for the things that life presents to us every day. Being thrilled by what we eat and drink, if not on every occasion, then at least on a regular basis. Not being intimidated by the increasing anti-aesthetic tide which finds a threat buried in joyful indulgence.
The state of mind required for the true Epic gourmet should apply equally to everything in life. An ability to ignore the mundane. Searching constantly for the invigorating, the lovely and the pleasing. Possessing joie de vivre. Being full of enthusiasm and ebullience. For some reason there is no English word that aptly describes the notion. Perhaps just being "gung ho" about all the facets of our lives, including dining.
James Beard was not a trained chef but he became perhaps the most influential figure in American cooking. A fine example of the Epic Gourmet. You can tell merely from reading his books that he encountered food, and life, with an unbridled, enthusiastic spirit. A gourmet through and through. And a fine example of the Epic spirit.
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