A surfeit is an excessive quantity of something, particularly food — such an excess of it that people grow sickened, repelled, or simply bored by it. The word carries a moral flavour from its history: gluttony and overindulgence were its classic contexts, and Shakespeare and the King James Bible both use it for excess that turns pleasure into disgust. In modern food writing it describes the point where abundance curdles — the tenth canapé at a reception, the glut of courgettes in August that no household can eat. Nutritionally, surfeit is the condition the whole modern food environment encourages, and learning to recognise it is part of learning to eat well.