gourmet
n. countablen. a person who knows a lot about good food and drink and enjoys eating high-quality meals. It can also describe the expensive or high-quality food itself.
n. a connoisseur of fine food and drink; a person with a refined palate. Often used as a modifier before another noun to indicate high quality or culinary sophistication.
He is a true gourmet who only eats at the best restaurants.
The gift basket was filled with gourmet cheeses, imported chocolates, and rare vintage wines.
While some critics dismissed the chef as a mere stylist, local gourmets praised her ability to elevate humble ingredients through precise, classical techniques.
Borrowed from French gourmet, from Middle French gourmet, from Old French groumet (“wine broker, valet in charge of wines, servant”) from groume, grommes (“wine-taster, manservant”), apparently from Middle English grom, grome (“boy, valet, servant”), from Old English *grōm (“male child, boy, youth”), akin to Old English grōwan (“to grow”). Cognate of Spanish grumete and Catalan grumet. More at groom.
Frequently used as an attributive noun (e.g., 'gourmet coffee', 'gourmet meal') to describe items of superior quality.