Gastronomia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The study and appreciation of fine food, cooking techniques, and culinary traditions
2. The art of preparing and enjoying excellent meals with attention to flavor, presentation, and cultural significance
3. The practice and knowledge of selecting quality ingredients and preparing them skillfully for pleasurable consumption

Etymology: Joseph Berchoux, a French poet, popularized the modern sense in a verse work titled "La Gastronomie," which treated the pleasures of the table as a serious subject for poetry. The root is Greek: "gastronomos" joined "gaster," meaning stomach, with "nomos," meaning law or rule, so it literally meant something like "regulation of the stomach." From French, the term entered English, while Italian and Spanish kept similar forms. In Italian, the word can also name a shop selling prepared local foods, a concrete sense that English rarely shares.