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.