What does "Sous vide" refer to in the culinary world?

Sous vide is a French cooking technique in which food is vacuum-sealed and then slowly cooked in water heated to a low temperature. When properly done, the food cooks consistently in its juices, maintaining moisture and tenderness. Sous vide, meaning “under vacuum” in French, is a technique developed by French chefs in the 1970s. It was introduced to the United States by American chef Thomas Keller, a devotee of French cooking and owner of the French Laundry restaurant in California’s Napa Valley, and French chef Daniel Boulud, who was then working in New York City. In his 2008 book Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide, Keller praises the technique as a guarantor of consistency, a highly desired goal in any professional kitchen. With sous vide cooking, the chef or home cook can learn through experimentation the best temperature and time for any given dish, obtaining identical and replicable results.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica