The Lady Guide to Modern Manners:8 March
Dear Thomas,
The first remotely spring day; the pavements were thronged. Such joy after winter! But oh, all this eating in the street. They tell me street food is the latest thing. Marvellous stuff you can get – vats of curry and things called wraps. But they’re so huge, and you even see people eating off cardboard plates with plastic forks as they amble along. Is this right? Am I being dreadfully fuddy-duddy?
Sybil Juniper, Cheadle
Dear Sybil,
I know exactly what you mean. You might like to move to Italy. In Rome, Florence, Venice and Bologna they’ve banned outdoor snack consumption near historic monuments. It’s a €500 fine for munching on the Spanish Steps.
Jilly Cooper, in her youth, stepped out, or perhaps just went for a walk, with a lord. ‘You’re eating in the street,’ she protested, feeling very middleclass and properly brought up.
‘I’m a lord,’ the gentleman replied. ‘I do as I like.’
Now, it seems, everyone’s a lord. It isn’t just the delightful artisanal food stalls where they’re grilling their own lamb (or horse) that are to blame. Less select foodstuffs, such as hamburgers or fi sh and chips, are frequently consumed on the move from those awful polystyrene boxes.
So what exactly is wrong with eating in the street? Is it the manner of guzzling? Or just the plain fact of eating? After all, the Queen must never be seen popping food into her mouth. It’s just not dignifi ed. But nobody objects to a crowded restaurant full of eaters. Nor indeed do we grow hysterical at the notion of diners in our own state dining rooms at home.
In places of great beauty and fame, such as the Piazza Navona in Rome, perhaps the sheer numbers of chompers leads to litter, pieces of food dropped on the ground, and rats. The only option is an outright ban.
But elsewhere, picnicking (for that’s what it is) can surely be tolerated, with certain conditions. Those stalls selling homemade food are a vital opportunity for young chefs to get started, by the way.
What I say is, sit down. Only small-scale items such as certain sandwiches or chocolate bars may be devoured while ambling (you, that is, not the choc). You should rest when eating anyway. If there’s no bench, there’s bound to be a wall where you can perch or even lean. If absolutely no sitting opportunity, try to park yourself in a quiet spot with at least some support. A tree or railings will do.
Also, choose your food carefully. Some of these wraps and so on are so enormous, how can anyone get them in their mouths, even if sitting at home with a full set of saws? Finally, no litter or food to be dropped on the ground, please.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
In this example, the pair were not holding hands or otherwise intimate. There’s a vulgar expression, ‘get a room’, which you may have heard. It did not apply here. As it happens, the young woman held her knife like a pen but the young man did not. Nevertheless, the lovebirds in a row made a sweet picture, except that they might have been mistaken for two children with parents unaccountably absent.
Some couples sit side by side at table even in their own homes. This will always be remarked upon. Otherwise, couples who bicker in a light, healthgiving fashion in public and at social occasions are always preferable to those that make a sickening display of kissy-kissy and handy-holdy, which nobody believes in.
How can we have faith in a liaison that has to be so effortfully promoted in general view? Couples may only sit next to each other at dinners and hold hands if one or other of them is so neurotic that they would otherwise explode.
The first remotely spring day; the pavements were thronged. Such joy after winter! But oh, all this eating in the street. They tell me street food is the latest thing. Marvellous stuff you can get – vats of curry and things called wraps. But they’re so huge, and you even see people eating off cardboard plates with plastic forks as they amble along. Is this right? Am I being dreadfully fuddy-duddy?
Sybil Juniper, Cheadle
Dear Sybil,
I know exactly what you mean. You might like to move to Italy. In Rome, Florence, Venice and Bologna they’ve banned outdoor snack consumption near historic monuments. It’s a €500 fine for munching on the Spanish Steps.
Jilly Cooper, in her youth, stepped out, or perhaps just went for a walk, with a lord. ‘You’re eating in the street,’ she protested, feeling very middleclass and properly brought up.
‘I’m a lord,’ the gentleman replied. ‘I do as I like.’
Now, it seems, everyone’s a lord. It isn’t just the delightful artisanal food stalls where they’re grilling their own lamb (or horse) that are to blame. Less select foodstuffs, such as hamburgers or fi sh and chips, are frequently consumed on the move from those awful polystyrene boxes.
So what exactly is wrong with eating in the street? Is it the manner of guzzling? Or just the plain fact of eating? After all, the Queen must never be seen popping food into her mouth. It’s just not dignifi ed. But nobody objects to a crowded restaurant full of eaters. Nor indeed do we grow hysterical at the notion of diners in our own state dining rooms at home.
In places of great beauty and fame, such as the Piazza Navona in Rome, perhaps the sheer numbers of chompers leads to litter, pieces of food dropped on the ground, and rats. The only option is an outright ban.
But elsewhere, picnicking (for that’s what it is) can surely be tolerated, with certain conditions. Those stalls selling homemade food are a vital opportunity for young chefs to get started, by the way.
What I say is, sit down. Only small-scale items such as certain sandwiches or chocolate bars may be devoured while ambling (you, that is, not the choc). You should rest when eating anyway. If there’s no bench, there’s bound to be a wall where you can perch or even lean. If absolutely no sitting opportunity, try to park yourself in a quiet spot with at least some support. A tree or railings will do.
Also, choose your food carefully. Some of these wraps and so on are so enormous, how can anyone get them in their mouths, even if sitting at home with a full set of saws? Finally, no litter or food to be dropped on the ground, please.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
WHAT TO DO ABOUT… kissy-kissy couples
At the weekend in an agreeable Midlands gastro pub, I saw a couple sitting side by side on a banquette instead of opposite as would be ‘normal’. Should this be banned?In this example, the pair were not holding hands or otherwise intimate. There’s a vulgar expression, ‘get a room’, which you may have heard. It did not apply here. As it happens, the young woman held her knife like a pen but the young man did not. Nevertheless, the lovebirds in a row made a sweet picture, except that they might have been mistaken for two children with parents unaccountably absent.
Some couples sit side by side at table even in their own homes. This will always be remarked upon. Otherwise, couples who bicker in a light, healthgiving fashion in public and at social occasions are always preferable to those that make a sickening display of kissy-kissy and handy-holdy, which nobody believes in.
How can we have faith in a liaison that has to be so effortfully promoted in general view? Couples may only sit next to each other at dinners and hold hands if one or other of them is so neurotic that they would otherwise explode.