The Cheese Boutique, our local gourmet food store, gives out these pale yellow notepads, and I noticed the other day the words “De gustibus……” printed at the bottom of each page. Ever curious, I went on the net and found this delightful article on sage Latin quotes from this Looksmart Food Management article.
FM’s readers will be especially interested in phrases that allude to food or appetite. Fames optimum condimentum, for example (hunger is the best seasoning). Or Fabas indulcet fames (hunger makes everything taste good; literally, hunger sweetens beans).
When one tinkers with a recipe, it is Ad gustum (to one’s taste,” as in adding salt). It is usually best to leave such matters to an arbiter elegantiae (an authority in matters of taste).
BTW, the quote in full, “De gustibus non est disputandum” means, “In matters of taste, there are no judges”. I’ll drink to that.
Actually, even though I saw a lot of people translate “De gustibus non est disputandum” in that fashion, the actual (literal) translation is: “Tastes are not to be disputed”.