A DINING PARABLE

 A DINING PARABLE

Long ago a Roman politician in Rome during the early empire invited guests from far and distant places.  He so hoped to impress his guests with his class, wealth and power that he hired an agent to organize the affair.  He hoped too to improve his standing with powers that be.  Preparation took on a great deal of time and remarkable expense.

Food was shipped from Greece.  For that province was famous for its cheese.  A specialist arrived from Africa who once made mushrooms taste like chicken. 

 He maintained a garden near the villa which were filled with those items one would associate with diligence and an earthiness.  But the tubers therein would not do from this garden but instead 12 varieties of radishes and turnips and carrots were gathered from farms as distant and diverse as Hispania, Asia Minor and Britannia.  He had heard that these achieved fame due to manner of care and fertilization.  

The meat which was loaned from a pig had been smoked with wood from trees which are said to produce ethereal delight and to provide an air of distinction.  He had even heard that this wood from a distant land would help to nullify the after effects of indulgence.  This wood came from the forests near by Byzantium at the northern end of the Aegean Sea.

A custard was made with eggs and elderberries.  However, special eggs were shipped from distant Gallia.  To please his wife the master of the house served nuts and fruits smothered in honey and sprinkled with a dusting of rosemary.

The wine came from those villas which the master had recently toured the past weeks.  One came from the vineyard which had once belonged to Scipio Africanus who had defeated Hannibal.  The politician looked forward to the moment of decanting the wine for he fancied himself adept at the nuances of wine production and for that matter the history of Scipio.

All of this was to be served by slaves who would meet every need of every guest.  The finest plates, service dishes and ware would be on hand.  Expensive crystal and bronze ware collected from the finest shops in Rome and Alexandria would add sparkle to the setting.

Now read no further beyond the line below and answer the following:

What would be your opinion of this Roman?  Would you view this as extravagance?  The necessities of his office?  An offensive display of wealth and power at the expense of others? Repulsive?

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I suggest that most would consider this an example of ostentatious display for personal sensation, that most would find this disgusting and representative behavior of those greedy and wallowing-in-wealth Romans. 

I fabricated the entire scenario above.  I simply made it up.

In reality the vast majority of Romans were mostly vegetarian.  Their main foods were nuts, vegetables such as cabbage, peppers, turnips, radishes, cauliflower, lettuce, carrots, wheat, barley, oats, legumes, figs, dates and apples and pears.  They did have meat, usually pork.  But meat was by and large reserved for religious celebrations and those sacrifices associated with it.  They also consumed cheese, numerous herbs and honey for flavoring.  

Truth to tell they were not impressed with extravagant dinners.  They passed laws against serving exotic and certain expensive foods.  The existence of these laws makes it clear that some very wealthy Romans did dine high off of the hog so to speak.  But it is interesting that it was frowned upon by the public and the practice of extravagance was often used in court cases  to weaken someone's testimony.  In other words no Roman publicly stood up and said:  I live an extravagant life style and eat the rarest and most expensive of foods. 

If one looks carefully at the photograph, the Romans preferred to eat out side and most settings, even among the well to do, were mild. 

So what was my inspiration for this?  I record the article I recently read (February, 2014) which covered the costs and service and dishes provided for a banquet at the White House:

Highlighting food from across the country, menu items include a first course of American Osetra Caviar from Illinois, quail eggs from Pennsylvania and 12 varieties of potatoes from farms in New York, Idaho and California. For the salad course, the White House details a Winter Garden Salad that “pays tribute to The First Lady’s White House Kitchen Garden.”

The main course is a dry-aged rib eye beef from a family-owned farm in Colorado that will be served with Jasper Hill Farm Blue Cheese crisp from Vermont.

Finishing the meal are a selection of sweets. There will be a chocolate malted cake that combines bittersweet chocolate from Hawaii and tangerines from Florida and will be served with vanilla ice cream from Pennsylvania. Additionally, the menu boasts fudge made from Vermont maple syrup, lavender shortbread cookies and cotton candy dusted with orange zest.

A selection of wines priced between $30 to $65 will be offered from California, Washington and Monticello, Va. (reported by CBS)

It matters little who is in the White House when it comes to such things.  In other words it is not a Democrat thing or a Republican thing.  It seems to be whoever occupies the White House. I rarely detect a sense of thanks or humbleness.  This practice has become common for a lengthy time.  What practice?  

Expensive meals, high calorie, food items shipped from all over at great expense appear to be the main fare.  12 varieties of potato?  Quail eggs?  

I do not suggest that the President hand out paper plates but I would suggest that he or she should make it clear that he or she indeed comes from the people. And that a degree of frugality is evident in terms of our money.