"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch"

James Beard’s pointed observation draws a parallel between two seemingly disparate worlds, gastronomy and romantic commerce, to underscore the essence of pleasure and immersion in experience. The gourmet, a lover of fine food and culinary artistry, is portrayed as someone who relishes flavor, texture, and the rich tradition behind a dish. To focus on calories, numbers, and nutritional data is to reduce the act of eating from a sensual, artistic journey to a clinical tally of intake, potentially stripping away its joy.

Comparing this to a tart, or a prostitute, who checks her watch during an encounter, Beard exposes the inauthenticity born from distraction. The act, which could be an immersive connection or transaction, suddenly becomes transactional in the most literal sense, timed and commodified. The implication is that attention to the clock, like calorie-counting during a meal, erodes genuine engagement, shifting the emphasis from enjoyment and presence to limits and end-points. Both situations become tainted by an external agenda, be it diet culture or the ticking meter of paid time, interrupting receptivity to pleasure in favor of boundaries and self-consciousness.

Beard’s wry tone is both a warning and a celebration. He champions a way of living where food is engaged with for its own sake, advocating for surrender to the moment and to sensory delight. He subtly critiques societal attitudes that valorize restraint, efficiency, and self-surveillance. For him, the true connoisseur is not someone preoccupied with restriction but one joyously receptive to life’s abundant flavors. To obsess over measurements, of time, calories, or any quantifiable metric, risks distancing oneself from pleasure and the full experience. Beard’s metaphor thus exalts extravagance and devotion in pursuit of enjoyment, inviting readers to approach life’s joys wholeheartedly, and without reservation.