12 Food and Etiquette

A feast, a joint meal has long been considered an integral part of many rituals and holidays. Compared with other rules of etiquette, table customs have the most inconstant and long development path.

The measure of education, civilization and human culture, perhaps, is most fully manifested in how it satisfies its needs. One of the most developed natural human needs is the need for food. Food for a man has long ceased to be the only way to maintain life in its biological sense. Eating is a procedure related to the socio-cultural forms of human behavior (rituals, rituals, ceremonies, etc.), it accompanies various events in human life, such as joyful, festive (wedding feasts, birthdays, etc.), so sad, tragic (memorial rites, etc.).

Over time, much has changed - and the rules of serving, and the order of organizing a feast, and the concept of politeness. But as in former times, sharing food is designed to bind people together, to unite those gathered around the table, to prevent hostility. No less important function of the feast - to attach the "newcomer" (guest) to the house, make it your own.

Joint eating is not only saturation, but also the communication of people, and the food itself (food) in this communication becomes a symbol, a sign.

In this regard, the most interesting and important products are bread and salt, which carry a large symbolic burden in the culture of various nations.

The Slavs, like many other nations engaged in farming, always had bread as the main and sacred product, and ideas of happiness and well-being at home were associated with it.

These ideas largely determined the rules for handling bread during meals. You can not eat the bread after another - you take away his happiness; you can not eat behind another person - eat his power; it is impossible to give bread from the table to dogs during the meal - poverty will befall; you cannot leave a piece of bread on the table, you will lose weight - “he will eat you” or will start chasing you in the next world.

The way of dividing bread is largely related to the nature of its baking: it is more convenient to break unleavened bread, and to cut sour bread. Therefore, for example, in Russian traditional culture it is not customary to break bread with your hands (“you break your life”). And the inhabitants of Central Asia, in whose diet unleavened bread in the form of flat cakes prevails, on the contrary, it is customary to break the bread into pieces. They do not cut bread with a knife, nor do they bite off a whole flat cake - this is considered indecent.

In many cultures, breaking bread is a ritual gesture of binding an oath, a contract.

Salt is equally symbolic in many cultures. Many nations established friendly relations with the help of salt: in ancient Rome, they brought it to guests as a sign of friendship; in Ethiopia, friends at a meeting were allowed to lick each other a piece of salt, which they carried with them; in a number of countries in the East, “right of salt” was called hospitality, etc. Accordingly, the opposite action — the scattering of salt — received the opposite meaning: among the Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, to upset the saltcellar meant to break friendship. From here, apparently, the still widely used sign: to spill salt is a quarrel.

In Russia, salt was considered a sacred (sacred, belonging to a religious cult and ritual) product (along with bread), so it always demanded that a person be especially attentive and respectful of herself. In the old days at dinner "it was possible ... to pour a little salt on the tablecloth, but in no case do not dip the bread in the salt shaker, as" only Judas dipped the bread in the salt shaker ". The rule observed to this day is not to take salt from the salt shaker with hands — in folk tradition it was also associated with the image of Judas: “Whoever takes salt from the salt shaker with his fingers, and not with a knife or forearm” of a spoon, can be safely considered the secret enemy of the house.

The expression “bread and salt” was the generic name for treats in general. This saying, as a wish during a meal, drove away evil spirits, it served both as a sign of hospitality and as an invitation formula for a feast. Bread was seen as an expression of grace, and salt as love; the bread carried the desire for wealth and well-being, and salt protected against hostile forces. Therefore, to abandon the proposed "bread and salt" was considered a manifestation of indecency and hostility.

No less ambiguous is the ritual of sharing food during a joint meal. It has its etiquette symbolism and a way of seating during a meal.

The order of the location of people around the table or hearth also reveals the order of teammates and sets a kind of scenario treats. In different ethnic cultures, various locations can serve as honorary. The Eastern Slavs considered the place at the head of the table to be the most honorable, in the red corner under the icons. There usually sat a man, the head of the family. On the sides of the owner, the older men sat down, behind them - the younger ones, at the farthest end of the table - women, those who did not have enough space at the table, ate on the bench or near the stove. Another method of seating is known: on the one hand, by the seniority of the man, on the other - opposite them - the women.

In Slavic culture, eating food at a high table has long been perceived as a feature of “correct,” and later, Christian behavior. The situation on the ground or on the floor was regarded as a rejection of etiquette or evidence of the lowest social status. In the Slavic tradition, the table is symbolically likened to the throne of the church, which in turn symbolizes the heavenly throne. Therefore, there was a special respect for the table. It was not allowed to place foreign objects on the table, knock on it with a spoon or hand. The ancient custom, preserved until the XIX century, ordered to keep bread on the table constantly, as a symbol of reverence for God and as evidence of well-being at home. Silence at the table was a sign of pious behavior.

The organization of the feast, methods of cooking and eating, the atmosphere of the feast, as well as the various attributes of this process differ significantly in different ethnic and etiquette cultures. Some nations, entering the room and preparing for the meal, take off their shoes, others - not. Some people eat with the help of special devices (knives, forks, spoons, etc.), others do without them. For example, in China, using a knife at the table is considered indecent. And therefore, when serving, the knives are not served here at all, the cook cuts food. In Japan, do not use spoons. Residents of some parts of Africa use a spoon, then pour it into a fistful with their left hand and eat from the palm.

In India, they do not use chopsticks or European cutlery; they all eat with their hands, which, after eating, are immediately washed in special bowls placed on the table. And in the states of Central Asia, a favorite dish, pilaf, is eaten with fingers. Tortillas are baked in Central Asia. Fold her bag and use as a spoon. After lunch, this “spoon” is eaten.

All these diverse and specific ways of eating have their own complex and long history.

Perhaps, the first consciously formulated norms and standards of table etiquette are found in the era of antiquity. The materials of L. Vinnichuk’s book “The People, Morals, Customs of Ancient Greece and Rome”, in particular those sections in which it is told about the behavior of the ancient Greeks and Romans at the table, quite vividly and fully reproduce these morals: “... in ordinary, everyday meals for women sat at the table with men only when the family had dinner alone, without guests. The expression “they sat at the table together” should be understood as follows: the men feasted reclining, while the women sat on chairs. In meals that were not of a family nature, women did not participate. Peers took place on the male half of the house. Feasting people took off their shoes, slaves washed their feet, after which the guests themselves or at the direction of the householder took places in the lunch boxes. Lodge placed in front of small tables. Before making the first dishes, the slaves washed the guests' hands or, more precisely, poured water on their hands for washing ... The procedure of washing the hands during the feast was repeated several times, since, without knives, forks and even spoons, the companions helped by eating with your fingers. ” It is curious that the ancient Greeks first had special gloves for food, a little later - bone tips that they put on their fingers. But gradually they were abandoned. Ovid taught his countrymen: “Take the food with the ends of your fingers.”

The participants of the meal neatly divided the meat into small pieces, and the sauce was scooped up with a slice of flatbread, folding it up like a spoon. Fingers wiped with scraps of bread, which were then thrown to the dogs, picking up the remnants of food falling from the tables. Later, when the feasts became more refined and sophisticated, special fragrant clay was served to wipe their fingers.

After the main part of the feast came to an end, the gods were sacrificed with drops of wine, and then the conversation itself began - a symposium (symposium), in which invited women also could not take part.

The Roman writer and philosopher Plutarch in his “Table Talks” paints in detail a picture of symposiums in which the intellectual elite of Greco-Roman society took part in the era of the empire.

In the philosophical dialogues accompanying a joint meal, questions were discussed that essentially represented the basics of table communication etiquette, in particular: “Should the homeowner indicate to those served their seats at the table or give the choice of the place to them?”, “Is it preferable for the ancients to serve each of diners a separate portion or the current one - to serve a common dish ”,“ For what reason do you have crowded guests at the beginning of lunch, and later is it spacious? ”,“ Do you need to invite a lot of guests for lunch? ” Nome with those who did not received an invitation from the owner of the house? "and others.

The conclusions of the table dialogues are interesting, instructive and in many respects still valid. For example, when discussing the question “Is the custom of the ancients preferable to serving each of the guests a separate portion or the current one - serving a common dish?”, The participants of the conversation emphasized the following important points: “After all, we,” said the participant of the conversation Agiy, “invite each other not to , to eat and drink, but in order, I suppose, to eat and drink with mutual intercourse. And this distribution in parts, eliminating communication, turns a joint lunch into many single dinners, so none of the diners with any of the others is a companion: everyone gets and sets a measured portion before him, as if from a tavern counter ... A portion of meat and bread, which claims equality, actually violates it: after all, a portion that seems excessive to one will not be sufficient for the other ... they had everything in common. This was genuine communication, and today's dinners are more of a separation, worthy of people who only seem to be friends, and in fact cannot even share a common meal at dinner. ”

Before the start of the symposia, the slaves carried the tables with the remnants of the meal and brought in others, on which sweets, cheese, fruit and, of course, wine were prepared. Not a single feast was complete without wine, as wine mixed with water was the main drink along with the so-called kikéon - wine flavored with honey, goat cheese, barley flour, and sometimes also onions, salt and all sorts of herbs.

Wines were classified according to their color: dark, red, white, gold. Taste and strength also mattered: old, long-term wines were distinguished - they were drunk, of course, by wealthy people. For the poor and the slaves were intended wine "re-squeezed", that is, made from grape marc.

Like the Greeks, the Romans ate three meals a day: early in the morning - the first breakfast, around noon - the second, and in the late afternoon - lunch. Lunch consisted usually of three changes. First served snacks, and above all eggs. Hence, the Roman saying “from egg to apples” corresponds to ours “from A to Z”, because the apples and other fruits the lunch meal was completed.

In ancient times, the Romans ate sitting at the table. Later, the custom changed: now the men were reclining on the lunch boxes around the table, while the women continued to sit, for a different pose was considered indecent for them. The tables were square, only later in the triclinium began to put the tables round shape. The lunch boxes stood, like those of the Greeks, on three sides of the table, while the fourth remained free, so that slaves could bring food and clean dirty dishes. The classic design required three beds from each of the three sides of the table, so nine people could take part in the meal at the same time. The places on the right side of the servant serving at dinner were considered “higher”, on the left side - “lower”, and the guests of the high-ranking and most expensive for the owner were seated (more precisely, laid) on the middle side of the table, directly opposite the one from which they brought food ... Slaves carried the dishes, putting them on a high set - the repository. Tables made sometimes very skillfully began to be covered with tablecloths only in the 1st century BC, but the Romans began to use napkins for wiping their lips and hands early, because, like the Greeks, they helped themselves with food with their fingers: Ovid wrote how ugly to wipe his mouth by hand.

It is known that the first napkins were prepared from asbestos. After lunch, they were not washed, but thrown into the fire for a few minutes. “The guests themselves gave the napkins to the guests, but the guests of lower rank, especially any hangers-on, fed at someone else's table, brought napkins with them in order to quietly add the tasty tidies left after the feast.

... Slaves divided the meat into small pieces, which required great experience and skill, because, as Juvenal said jokingly, there is a huge difference between how to cut a chicken and how to hare. The guests themselves laid dishes on their plates, small or deep. A man brought up, who knows how to keep himself well at the table, was considered the one who, helping himself with his fingers, would get dirty less than others. Knives were used only to divide the meat into individual portions. But the spoons were already in use, and they were given various forms depending on what they were intended for. ”

Often feasts, especially the Romans, turned into feasts of stunning luxury and abundance. The peers of the Roman commander and gourmet Lucull, who lived from 117–56, were especially different in this respect. BC. He was considered one of the richest men of his time. After his resignation from the post of commander-in-chief, he, as evidenced by historians, lived in Rome and made magnificent feasts (hence the expression “lukullov feast”). Here is a menu of one, by no means the most luxurious, dinner at Lucullus: oysters from the northern seas; blackbirds with asparagus; fowls; steamed sea clams, baked in dough; guinea fowl; white and black chestnuts; boar, served entirely, but consisting of a dozen differently cooked pieces, to it: turnip, salad, radish and spicy sauce from sea fish; huge moray eel with a garnish of sea crayfish, to it: a sauce of olive oil, vinegar, mackerel and various vegetables cooked in red wine; goose liver; Spanish hares; fig-fed ducks; fruits. For each food served appropriate wines - old, aged, which were brought here from all over the vast empire.

In the Middle Ages, the standards of decent behavior during collective meals vary somewhat in comparison with antiquity, but still appear to be fairly simple and straightforward.

It was still considered natural to eat meat by hand, removing it from a common bowl, drinking wine or beer from one cup that went around the table, and soup is from one pot.

Although the rules of decency that existed at that time rather strictly regulated the behavior at the common table: it was impossible to spit and blow your nose at the table, slice and scratch your body with the same hand that you used to take food from a common plate, put uneaten pieces in it or gnawed bones and drink from the general cup, without wiping your lips before eating, sleep during the meal or talk too much and show greed in food.

Manners and forms of decent human behavior at the table change significantly during the Renaissance and then the New Age, when complex systems of proper etiquette norms began to be actively developed, reflecting public notions of nobility, decorum, social prestige and civilization. At this time, treatises began to appear on the table manners (in particular, the works of E. Rotterdam, B. Castiglione, J. Kaza, and others), which strongly recommended more refined and civilized behavior at the table.

The essential point that largely influenced the development of table etiquette in the future was the fact that it was during this period that various tableware appeared and spread throughout Europe.

The most ancient of tableware is a knife.It has existed since time immemorial, when everyone carried it with them and cut their own food to them. Initially, the knives had the form of daggers. This continued until Napoleon 1 at the end of the XVIII century. did not prohibit the manufacture of knives with a sharp end, as killings often occurred on the streets. The government issued an order for the manufacture of knives with a rounded end, which we use to this day.

Knives of metal in the form in which we have them today, there are from the Bronze Age. It was practiced to strengthen a kind of spike on a cast or forged blade, lengthened with a wooden handle or horn, which was richly decorated.

For a long time, a guest invited to dinner was supposed to bring the device with him.

The spoon is the most ancient, as a knife, table subject. For the consumption of liquid food, the ancients used curved objects that met in nature. In part, they underwent additional processing in order to reinforce the convexity and concavity. Such spoons were made of horn, wood and bone. Table spoons and ladles were met by the Romans, but until the Middle Ages, the spoon remained rare. Until the XV - XVI centuries. in Europe, most often used spoon-like objects with a round and short handle, which was gripped with the whole hand.

In the XVII - XVIII centuries. in France and Italy, there are different types of spoons in shape and purpose. By this time the spoons had acquired a modern form and it became convenient to hold it with the index and middle finger.

The first plates appeared in France in 1498 at the coronation of Louis XII. They had a quadrangular shape. But at the beginning of the 16th century, in a number of European countries, instead of plates, large pieces of bread were served at dinner, which at the end of the meal were distributed to the poor. Sometimes instead of plates used round boards.

The first napkins appeared in Spain, and then were introduced in France in 1461 on the occasion of the coronation of Charles VII. Louis XV already had a whole staff of special people who were engaged in folding napkins. It was considered a complex art, which was studied for several years.

The forks first appeared also in France in the 16th century under King Henry III. The forks that appeared in Europe looked a little like modern ones, since the very short handle, often decorated with intricate carvings, only had one or two teeth. And I needed a lot of skill to successfully use such a fork. In this respect, a curious and even funny historical fact is known. When the Englishman Tomos Koriat, after his trip to Italy in 1608, brought a two-tine fork to his homeland, there was no limit to the amazement of his compatriots. Everyone asked: why? Isn't ten fingers enough? In addition, the demonstration of the art of using a fork was unsuccessful: the first piece of meat taken from a common dish, Koriat dropped on the tablecloth, which caused jokes and gloating in his address. And only 50 years later, the fork caught on in England.

According to historians of culture, the wide distribution of plugs in Europe is largely due to the appearance in the costume of the nobility of large multi-layer lace collars. The lush collar made it difficult to eat in the usual way, but with a fork it was much more convenient.

Generally forks an interesting fate. It is known that the first fork, which had only one prong in the form of a gold pin on an ivory handle, was made for a Byzantine princess in the early seventies of the eleventh century. From there, it migrated to Italy, where it was made more like a toy. Although doji, popes and emperors of the Roman Empire sometimes used two teeth forks.

The fork was brought to Russia from Poland at the beginning of the 17th century. For the first time, Lzhedmitry I pointedly took advantage of her during the marriage with Marina Mnishek in the Kremlin’s Granovitovaya Chamber. “This caused an explosion of fair indignation of the boyars and clergy and served, as A. Spochka ironically remarks, as one of the reasons for preparing the Shuisky plot. The fork was a powerful argument proving the non-Russian origin of the impostors, since only a spoon was considered a true Russian tool. ”

By the way, the first silver spoons in Russia were made in 996 at the request of Prince Svyatoslavich of the Varangian retinue. In Europe, the same spoon was already known 3,000 years BC. In ancient times, from the middle of the 1st millennium BC, spoons took on an almost modern form and were made of horn, bronze, gold and silver. In Northern and Eastern Europe, wooden spoons are common.

In Russia at the time of Ivan the Terrible (1530 - 1584) nobles and boyars ate and drank from wooden dishes, which "the monks did and at which the edges were usually gilded." According to eyewitnesses, Ivan the Terrible himself had neither a plate, nor a knife, nor a fork, but used them, borrowing from the boyar sitting next to him.

Tin dishes and plates were then a rarity, but each boyar had a silver cup, from which they served guests to drink for their health. Spoons, knives, forks and plates were served only to the most honored guests. Spoons were made gold-plated and silver with an artsy figure at the end and with gold and silver inscriptions, decorated with precious stones and handed over to them.

In everyday life, the owner wore a spoon on her belt: she served while eating hot food, otherwise the Russians used her fingers. This is what K. Valishevsky reports in the book “Ivan the Terrible”: “Peers were arranged very often and were of two kinds: private and collective, arranged by groups, together. The latter were called bratchiny ... the question of places here acquired great importance and caused controversy, often ending in bloody fights. However, it was considered a sign of good tone to ask to take an appropriately high place at the table. Usually, they ate together from one dish, took pieces of food with their fingers, laid bones on plates, which they served for this purpose and did not take turns during the whole meal. The owner distributed bread and salt and sent the best pieces to the more distinguished guests. The number of dishes was unimaginable.The feast lasted a very long time. Smells of garlic, onions, which served as seasoning for many foods, rotten fish and alcoholic beverages soon permeated the atmosphere. All this, due to the obscenity of many guests, made such celebrations unbearable for foreigners. It happened that even women who were singing separately were transported to their homes in an insensible condition. If on the next day the hostess sent a guest to ask about health, it was decided to respond with a hint of wide hospitality: “Yesterday I was so cheerful that I do not remember how I returned home.”transported home in a state of insensitivity. If on the next day the hostess sent a guest to ask about health, it was decided to respond with a hint of wide hospitality: “Yesterday I was so cheerful that I do not remember how I returned home.”transported home in a state of insensitivity. If on the next day the hostess sent a guest to ask about health, it was decided to respond with a hint of wide hospitality: “Yesterday I was so cheerful that I do not remember how I returned home.”

The feasts at the royal court were basically the same pattern, but they were more pomp and scale: the guests ate and drank from golden vessels, the servants during meals three times changed their dress, and the dinner lasted for many hours. As K. Valishevsky notes, “at the court, like in private individuals, feasts with their terrible gluttony and immoderate drinking were a necessary condition of every celebration and the most favorite entertainment”.

The usual ceremony of the royal feasts consisted of the following actions. The prince sat on a high place; servants (200 to 300 people in brocade clothes with gold chains on their chest and black fox hats) bowed low to him and two in a row went for food. Meanwhile, vodka was served; nothing was put on the tables then, except for bread, salt, vinegar, pepper, knives and spoons. The servants brought the dishes tasted by the cook at the steward, then they were tried in the presence of the king by the Kravchie. Only after this, the king crossed himself, took a piece of meat cut by kravchim, distributed to the high-ranking guests slices of bread, food, wine, honey, and at the end of the feast distributed dried Hungarian plums to the guests. Delivering to everyone said: "The king sends you this." The one who got up rose and thanked. In addition, it was the custom after the feast to send honored guests to the food and drinks that they shared with the royal sent ones.

The Renaissance in Russia came much later than in Europe, and is largely associated with the reign of Peter I.

It was at this time that the norms of European table etiquette, which were recorded in the book “Honest Youth of the Mirror, or Indications for Everyday Life,” were introduced in Russia by the efforts of Peter and his associates. This book contained excerpts and generalizations of European etiquette, adapted to the Russian reality of the time. It included, in particular, numerous rules of conduct at the table, addressed to young noblemen: “It is indecent to them with their hands or feet on the table everywhere, but they must quietly act; and do not draw, prick or knock on the plates, on the tablecloth or on the dish with forks and a knife, but should quietly and quietly, directly, and not sit idle ”.

“When you happen to sit at a table with others, keep yourself in the order according to this rule: first, cut off your nails so that they do not seem to be covered with velvet; wash your hands and sit up well, sit up straight and do not grab the first dish, do not eat like a pig and do not blow into the ear so that it sprinkles everywhere; do not salt when you eat, do not drink first, be sustained, avoid drunkenness, drink and eat as much as you need; when they offer you a dish, take a part of it, give the other to another, and thank; let not your hands lie long on a plate; do not shake your feet everywhere; when you have to drink, do not wipe your lips with your hand, but with a towel, and do not drink until you swallow the food; don't lick your fingers; do not gnaw bones, but cut them with a knife; do not brush your teeth with a knife, but with a toothpick and with one hand, cover your mouth when you brush your teeth; Bread, attached to the breast, do not cut; eat that lies in front of you, and do not grab anything else ... do not take your fingers ... do not slur over food like a pig, and do not scratch your head, not swallowing a piece, do not say it, for so do the peasants; often sneezing, blowing your nose and coughing is not useful. When you eat an egg, first take the bread and see that the egg does not run out, eat more quickly: do not break the eggshell, and while you eat the egg, do not drink, do not wipe the tablecloth and do not lick the fingers; near your plate do not make a fence from bones, crusts of bread and other things; when you stop eating, thank God, wash your hands and face and dry your mouth. ”

In the post-Petrine era, during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, Catherine II and the subsequent royal personages of the Romanov dynasty, the Russian court differed little from other European courts in the etiquette sense. This is evidenced by manuals and books on etiquette published in Russia.

The modern requirements of table etiquette largely grow from the requirements of the previous culture and are complemented by new rules that are born in the daily practice of communication of people at the table. Table etiquette became internally more orderly.

Daily meals include breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea, and dinner. Their peculiarity is ordinariness, lack of formality and solemnity.

Banquets, weddings, anniversaries, memorable dates and events, family celebrations, festive events are associated with the observance of certain rules.

Knowledge of the rules of table etiquette, the ability to use them comes only in practice. It is necessary to be attentive and gradually develop skills in etiquette behavior. And this is very important, since the observance of the rules of table etiquette, and this is confirmed by practice, allows a person not only to use cutlery most conveniently, rationally and distribute movements while eating, but also to feel free, relaxed and psychologically comfortable, to create this comfort for others. to people.

In general, it can once again be emphasized that, for all its national specificity, the culture of the feast is a necessary condition for people to communicate and an indicator of a person’s general culture, his upbringing, and civilization.