Hints for the table: or, the economy of good living / [Anon].

  • John Timbs
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hints for the table: or, the economy of good living / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    178/188 page 162
    A Persian dinner is a strange repast. Tlie guests are first served with coffee in very small cups, and without cream or sugar; then tea, in large cups, and at last dinner. The table-cloth, or sofra, of flowered cotton, is spread upon the carpet; and this cloth is used so loDg unchanged, that the accumulated fragments of former meals collect into a musty paste, emitting no very savoury smell; but the Persians are content, for they say that changing the sofra brings ill luck. A piece of their bread or cake is then set for each guest, to be used as a plate and napkin. Then a tray is placed between each two persons, containing two bowls of sherbet, each with a wooden spoon ; two dishes of pillau of rice soaked in oil or butter, boiled fowl, raisins, and a little saffron; two plates of sliced melon; two of kabobs, or morsels of dry broiled meat; and a dish of a fowl roasted to a cinder. As forks are not used, the guests dexterously scoop up the contents of the plates into their mouths, with three fingers and the thumb of their right hand. In Persia, it is etiquette to keep the head covered, and never to enter a room in boots or slippers. Our country- men speak of being obliged to dine in their cocked hats and feathers as a far more troublesome extremity of politeness than leaving their shoes at the door. Shumzi-Tabreezee, a saint of Bagdad, long begged his bread, and one day, in his hunger, caught a fish, which lie held up to the sun, and brought that luminary near enough to roast it! A grand Chinese dinner is an aldermanic affair. The notes of imitation are much larger than ours, and are written upon beautiful red paper. The company are re- ceived by hosts of attendants bearing lanterns; and being welcomed by startling music, they are first served with tea, without milk or sugar. There is no table-cloth; in- stead of napkins, three-cornered pieces of paper are used, and for knife and fork are substituted two little round chop-sticks; whilst porcelain spoons are used for soup. There are many hundred dishes served, the roasts being carved by cooks in uniform and tasteful costume, lhe whole repast occupies full six hours.
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