Gourmet Gift Baskets
|
Links to Gift Basket Vendors
|
Gourmet Gift Baskets
A gourmet is defined as a person with discriminating taste in food and wine, as is a gourmand. What exactly is “gourmet” food? By the book, gourmet food is characterized by high quality, accurate preparation, and artistic presentation. Let’s tease apart that definition.
Many foods are indigenous to circumscribed areas of the globe and/or are only in season during specific times of the year. Thus, no matter where you are, there will always be some foods that are unobtainable. Moreover, these elusive victuals are less likely to be embraced by the general population since they rarely become a dietary staple. They are prone to be conceptualized as “gourmet” because of their limited accessibility and foreign origins. Yet in their native lands, they may be a simple and unexalted food.
Gourmet food can also be a matter of perception. Generally speaking, humans are more likely to perceive a rare commodity as superior as opposed to an everyday item. As stated, many foods are less available because of their place of origin or growing season. These foods, particularly if they hail from an “exotic” locale, (another definition burdened by subjectivity), are more likely to be viewed as special.
Sometimes price alone can influence this perception. We all intellectually know that price does not presuppose quality. But savvy advertisers and marketers also know that intellect often yields to emotion. Psychologically we still possess a tendency to equate expense with an item’s inherent worth. This is manifested in everyday mantras like “you get what you pay for,” and “it pays to buy the best.” Often this is true but sometimes we are merely inflating the coffers of shrewd businessmen.
Links to Gift Basket Vendors
