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How to stay alive at the dinner table?
To paraphrase one of the authors of the interwar cookery textbooks, it must be agreed that one particularly important thing in life is the “fattening carcass.” The Kaunas nobility knew this well too. So the companion for smaller gatherings, courtesy visits, and revisions needed at that time, or larger celebrations, was food.
Apparently, it is not for nothing that foreign diplomats residing in Kaunas and Lithuanian envoys or presidents of Lithuania abroad have paid much attention to the so-called “greeting and entertainment policy” since the first years of independence. It wasn’t cheap, but apparently effective.
In intriguing memories about the experience of gastronomic knowledge in Kaunas in 1938-1939. Polish military attache Leon Mitkievich: “I quickly became convinced that one of the most important conditions for a candidate for diplomatic service, even military, in high society communication: having an ostrich stomach and a talent for ultra-fast food and drink lists “.
The Polish representative complained about the endless marathon from January to February. According to him, there were weeks when “every afternoon was busy.” Sometimes it was necessary to attend breakfast during the day, one or two teas in the afternoon, and in the evening, a gala lunch.
Photo by Mejeris Smečechauskas / Participants of the press staff party at the “Metropolis” restaurant, Kaunas, around 1932-1933.
The question is, how was it necessary to survive and keep your head bright on this festive carousel? The most experienced diplomats knew a few tricks that they shared with a newcomer from Poland.
Essential advice: it is best to choose a single dish, it is recommended to have meat, and “masterfully simulating eating”, leave the others on plates. You also need to drink only one type of wine. In other words, you must refrain from multiplying food and drinks.
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