【Epicure】 , 【gourmet】 ,  【gourmand】 ,  【glutton】 ,  【bon vivant】 ,  【gastronome】  mean one who takes pleasure in eating and drinking.

An  【epicure】 is one who is choice and fastidious while at the same time voluptuous in enjoyment of food and drink; the term is also applied to a connoisseur in an art involving both feasting and delicacy of taste.

A  【gourmet】 is a connoisseur in delicate or exotic dishes, liquors, and wines; the term carries as its distinctive connotation the savoring as of each morsel of food or sip of wine, and the power to distinguish delicate differences in flavor or quality.

【Gourmand】  implies less fastidiousness and less discernment than  【gourmet】 , but it suggests a hearty interest in and enjoyment of good food and drink rather than, as  【glutton】 does, greedy and voracious eating and drinking.

【Bon vivant】  differs little from  【gourmand】 except in its stronger connotation of a lively or spirited enjoyment of the pleasures of the table, especially in the company of others.

【Gastronome】  is equivalent to  【epicure】 , with perhaps greater stress on expert knowledge and appreciation of fine food and wine and of the ritual of preparation and serving of them.