gourmands

Noun

gourmand (plural gourmands)

1. A person given to excess in the consumption of food and drink; a greedy or ravenous eater.
   • I knew him, at Caivs trencher, when for hyre, / He proſtituted his abuſed body / To that great gourmond, fat Apicivs;1603 (first performance; published 1605), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Seianus his Fall. A Tragœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby...

   Synonyms:

   glutton

2. A person who appreciates good food.
   • The third key was the number of demands from different patrons or groups for their own specialized cuisines. Such patrons included the court, rich households, and scholar-gourmands. Buddhists and Muslims also elaborated their own cuisines (sucai 素菜 and qingzhen 清真).2000, Endymion Wilkinson, “Agriculture, Food, and the Environment”, in Chinese History: A New Manual, Rev. & enl. edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 636

   Synonyms:

   chowhound, gastronaut, gourmet