Dear Wordwind: Since none of our Latin experts have answered you, I went into Internet to check my spelling, and found this:Lector: Hoc est dictum hodiernum: De gustibus non est disputandum.

This is the saying for today: Matters of taste are not to be quarreled about. But the really learned enjoy tormenting those who have forgotten their Latin by just saying "De gustibus....and all that."

So the esthetes rather than quarreling about food, just bolster their standing as wine snob and gourmet by mentioning far away restaurants and wine cellars. Deliver me from them O Lord! I have no desire to belong to Les Amis d'Escoffier.