A lovely evening
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kev
@ 02.10.2010 13:14 CETThere was a river of plum brandy somewhere near, it seemed. Then, to begin with, there was a platter of cold meat such as I never expected to eat in my life again. There was sucking-pig so delicate that it could be spread on bread like butter, and veal and ham and sausage and tongue, all as superb in their austerer way, and slabs of butter and fat cheese, Then there were pancakes, stuffed witch chopped steak and mushrooms and chickens livers, and then spring chicken served with a border of moist and flavoursome rice on a bed of young vegetables, and it appeared that there was also a river of with wine near by. And then there was a compote of quinces, cherries, and peaches, served with a stack of little biscuits, like the one we had found the pretty nun eating. We ate and drank enormously. Valetta said in my ear, "You really must eat, you know, They will think you dislike their food if you do not. It is our Slav custom to give our guests too much to eat, as kind of boastfulness, and of course out of good-will, and the guests show how strong they are by eating it. We are really a very primitive people, I am afraid."
From the fantastic book 'Black Lamb and Grey Falcon' by Rebecca West (Penguin Classics)
I love the 'Slav people', and I did repeatedly fail them by not eating enough, even with drinking I reached my limits way before them. I was however never scorned for this, maybe a tiny bit frowned upon now and again :-)