modern etiquette
Created | Updated Jun 17, 2003
Vera asked for a cola to drink with her meal of fresh salmon in the up market restaurant, only to be greeted by gasps from her fellow diners, what sacrilige to ask for cola with such a fine meal. "It just isn,t done dear", no, no, one should drink a fine, dry white wine with such a delicacy", said Flavia, one of her companions, "oh, you mean like a nice drop of Liebfraumilch" replied Vera, her friends visibly shuddered at the mention of the name of this common German wine, usually sold warm in all the pubs in the early 1980,s.
Sharon, another friend eating with them, a lythe, super-thin blonde with impossibly big blue eyes and a full red painted mouth, recently married to Horace, a succesful banker in the City at least 25 years older than her, said "no Flav, not nowadays, red wine,s in to eat with sammon, I read it in my magazine, etiquette now says red wine luv, forget that white wine stuff, and it,s got to be Spanish, like that bull blood stuff, I drunk it once in Torremolinos, before I met Horace, ,cos, now we don,t go there no more, we only go to the Carribean for our holidays".
By now Vera was visibly confused, having been brought up with a cup of tea at every meal at home, not really liking alcohol, apart from the occasional lager or Baileys, she felt a complete fool at ordering her cola, even though that was what she really wanted.
What should one drink with salmon, or hamburgers or even fish and chips? she wondered, as her two companions continued to argue about the fashion for red or white wine, sweet or dry, by now they had progressed to red meat, "definitely red", said Flavia, "not nowadays" replied a defiant Sharon, "no, white and sweet, Horace told me and he knows all about wines, whats good and bad".
The truth is, nothing is good or bad, only etiquette makes it so, each and every one of us should have the courage and confidence to drink what we really enjoy with the food we enjoy, and not be constricted by the bounds of etiquette. If a glass of Bollinger is your choice to drink with a plate of fish and chips,, or a cup of tea with your pizza, or a glass of beer with your pasta, then enjoy it and be liberated from the bounds of etiquette!!
Sharon, another friend eating with them, a lythe, super-thin blonde with impossibly big blue eyes and a full red painted mouth, recently married to Horace, a succesful banker in the City at least 25 years older than her, said "no Flav, not nowadays, red wine,s in to eat with sammon, I read it in my magazine, etiquette now says red wine luv, forget that white wine stuff, and it,s got to be Spanish, like that bull blood stuff, I drunk it once in Torremolinos, before I met Horace, ,cos, now we don,t go there no more, we only go to the Carribean for our holidays".
By now Vera was visibly confused, having been brought up with a cup of tea at every meal at home, not really liking alcohol, apart from the occasional lager or Baileys, she felt a complete fool at ordering her cola, even though that was what she really wanted.
What should one drink with salmon, or hamburgers or even fish and chips? she wondered, as her two companions continued to argue about the fashion for red or white wine, sweet or dry, by now they had progressed to red meat, "definitely red", said Flavia, "not nowadays" replied a defiant Sharon, "no, white and sweet, Horace told me and he knows all about wines, whats good and bad".
The truth is, nothing is good or bad, only etiquette makes it so, each and every one of us should have the courage and confidence to drink what we really enjoy with the food we enjoy, and not be constricted by the bounds of etiquette. If a glass of Bollinger is your choice to drink with a plate of fish and chips,, or a cup of tea with your pizza, or a glass of beer with your pasta, then enjoy it and be liberated from the bounds of etiquette!!
