SC - Capers

[LrdRas@aol.com]

Jennifer Conrad wrote:
> 
> found this while web surfing............
> 
> "The word gourmet did not originate in France, but actually comes from the
> Farsi word for stew: "Ghormeh." It is believed to have been brought back to
> the western world by French Crusaders, impressed by the lavish feasts of the
> Middle Eastern tables."
> 
> (found at the Global Gourmet site)

With respect, I have to say this looks like it came from the Jeff Smith
research school: "It _looks_ as if it might be true, and it's more fun
than the truth!"

Now, I have a prime piece of real estate near my home I'm willing to
sell cheep, and it will enable anyone who buys it for the low low price
of 700 million bucks to cross the East River, from Manhattan to Brooklyn
or vice versa, as often as they want to, for free! It's a lovely
suspension bridge, only slightly used.

Seriously, though, I don't know that it's _not_ true, but the
explanation offered by most dictionaries, that the word is derived from
Old French references to grooms or servants with exceptional palates,
whose purpose was to taste foods and wines for poisons, seems a tad more
plausible to me, especially as it also explains the basic etymology of
the related term gourmand, which the other explanation does not.

Still, _could_ be true, I guess.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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