gastrolatry

Etymology

From gastro- + -latry.

gastrolatry means extreme devotion to eating or food. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “gastrolatry” is a great word

GASTROLATRY — [Noun] The quasi-religious devotion to or worship of food and eating. From the combining form gastro- (from Ancient Greek γαστήρ (gastḗr), meaning "stomach, belly") + -latry (from Ancient Greek -λατρία (-latría), from λατρεία (latreía), meaning "worship"). Unlike gluttony, which implies a moralized greed for consumption, or gourmandise, which denotes a refined appreciation of pleasure, gastrolatry is a solemn idolatry. It is the pilgrimage planned solely around a distant restaurant, the pantry curated as a reliquary, and the reverent silence before the first taste of a perfect dish—a quiet confession that the deepest hunger is not of the body, but of the soul, seeking transcendence in the ephemeral.

noun

extreme devotion to eating or food.“Gastrolatry, indeed, is a worship which, at one time or other, has prevailed in different forms over all parts of the world — its history takes an extensive range, and is not altogether without interest.”