Here's the expounding on gluttony by St. Gregory the Great:
http://cathom.blogspot.com/2008/12/seeking-after-sauces-and-seasonings-for.html
Thanks for that link. I happen to be a foodie (it is my only hobby really) and always try to use the freshest ingredients in my cooking. Ocassionaly I cook with items that are priced beyond the reach of the average home cook (truffles, caviar, etc.) Do you think those things would be considered gluttonous?
It makes me think about homes - I don't recall who it was that said it, but we must live according to our station in life, thus it is not sinful for a Pope, King, or Bishop to live in an opulent palace, but it would be wrong for a peasant to (a situation we see in millions of homes today in which people - through trying to keep up with the Jones's - live in homes they can ill afford).
Would we say that food fits into this category as well? If you can afford caviar and truffles should they not be eaten?
As for the "seeking after sauces and seasonings" - these things are so commonplace these days that it would be hard to avoid them - we certainly don't need to go seeking them. Do you think that the comments of St Gregory the great ought to be tempered with the above ideas in mind?
I definitely do suffer from some of the other points on his list - taking food with too much eagerness, and eating before the right time. In fact, it seems that modern fitness instructors even promote the latter as they try to convince people that six meals a day is better than three (the unintended consequence of which - for many people - is that they end up eating six full sized meals instead of six small meals as people don't seem to know how to moderate portion sizes.