Table of contents:
- Subordinates and fellow soldiers
- How a good recommendation allowed foreigners to save money on dinners
- Intellectuals at the Table: A Modest Three Course Dinner
- If you want a peaceful life, do not forget to invite your neighbor, as well as distant relatives, fellow countrymen and namesakes
- Who are the messengers and why they were called to the table and how a stranger could come to dinner
Video: What is the notorious Russian hospitality: Who in Russia could sit down at the table and why were the talkers called
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In Russia, guests were always welcome, and Russian hospitality amazes foreigners even today. The tradition of setting the table and inviting people to it comes from antiquity. The concept of "open table" is very interesting, according to which not only family members, but even strangers could have dinner with the owner. Read how hospitable hosts invited strangers to the table, who the messengers were, and what the intelligentsia considered a modest dinner.
Subordinates and fellow soldiers
In Russia, it was customary to invite subordinates to an open table. For example, the chief could send an invitation to the one who is lower in rank, the guards commander - to the officers. Why was this done? By organizing such a dinner, the owner pursued several goals at once: it was possible to solve various work issues in a friendly atmosphere and at the same time to extinguish the emerging conflicts in the team. Count Mikhail Vorontsov's words are known that rich and powerful people should live in such a way that those around them would not envy and forgive them both wealth and power.
Open tables for subordinates were also set during business trips abroad. For example, there is a known case when in 1775 Count Alexei Orlov visited Livorno. During an open meal, the guests enjoyed their food, and the count read out business papers, which he then gave to the secretary standing next to him with the words: "Gentlemen, eat, eat!"
Former fellow soldiers also enjoyed the privilege of having a free lunch. For example, there is a known case when a retired officer got into the habit of going to Count Razumovsky to eat. He came, greeted the owner and bowed to him, then sat down in the most inconspicuous corner, ate from the heart and then left without saying goodbye. The count's adjutants decided to play a gluttonous officer - they began to ask him who invited him. He was embarrassed and replied that Count Razumovsky was his former field marshal, and he believed that he could come to dinner without an invitation. After that, the officer was no longer seen at the table. Razumovsky noticed this and ordered to find out who it was. The subordinates found out and told the count that this was a former colleague who was in Moscow because of a lawsuit and therefore was in dire need of money. Razumovsky not only helped to solve the case in favor of the former subordinate, but also settled him at home, and later sponsored him with money for the trip and gave a valuable gift for his wife. These are the service relationships.
How a good recommendation allowed foreigners to save money on dinners
The Russian tradition of the open table delighted foreigners. Of course, poor people could not afford the luxury of treating a large number of people every day, because the number of those invited could reach 100 - this required a lot of money. A foreigner visiting Moscow or St. Petersburg for daily home free meals only needed to get a good recommendation. For example, the French artist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun admired the open tables of Count Stroganov and wrote that it was very difficult for her to refuse the invitation, the Count was so hospitable.
Intellectuals at the Table: A Modest Three Course Dinner
Mikhail Pyliaev also wrote about the open tables of Count Stroganov in his work "Old Life". Art people came to the count for dinner, because he was a famous philanthropist. Poets and artists adored Sunday meals, which were organized like Roman dinners. There were soft sofas with swan pillows at the tables, carpets and silks were hung around, and the guests reclined and ate deliciously. At the same time, dinners were considered modest, despite the fact that there were at least three changes of dishes. Visitors could taste pineapples in vinegar, herring cheeks, moose lips, exotic oysters - the count loved to amaze with luxury. Not only did the decoration copy the Roman ceremony, other less beautiful traditions were also followed. For example, if a guest ate so much that he no longer climbed, he caused vomiting and continued to eat.
If you want a peaceful life, do not forget to invite your neighbor, as well as distant relatives, fellow countrymen and namesakes
Neighbors were also not denied meals. Any of them could come and eat from the heart. Neighbors were welcomed not only by wealthy people, but also by middle class nobles. After a fire broke out in Moscow during the war of 1812, there were fewer open tables. At the same time, in Moscow, they spoke with condemnation about the Petersburg zhurfixes, that is, about reception days for guests.
Kinship ties in Russia have always been treated with trepidation, any, even a very distant relative, was a welcome guest at an open table. Very often, the nobles were looking for common relatives during their acquaintance. They were not only invited to the table, but also provided with money, made up patronage at work, helped to get married or get married, and visited during illness. The same attitude awaited fellow countrymen or namesakes, by the way, very often they turned out to be distant relatives. Such people could ask the owner for a favor when applying for a job or when solving court cases, especially if the fellow countryman was rich and noble.
Who are the messengers and why they were called to the table and how a stranger could come to dinner
Among the Moscow nobility of the 18-19th centuries, one could very often meet messengers at open tables. It is clear that the term originated from the word "message", and such people were just gossips. They talked little about themselves, but they knew how to present rumors beautifully, embellishing them with "gag". Most often, the messengers were elderly bachelors or widowers who spent their lives in endless dinners. They could be seen at family holidays, sometimes they even carried out various small errands of the owners. Famous messengers were the Russian publisher Pavel Svinin, a retired officer Teplov, and other personalities. If a person was a nobleman, looked decent and knew how to behave, he could come to dinner with a complete stranger. At the same time, the owner ate the same as everyone else, so as not to show his superiority over the guests.
Well, women were supposed to be silent. Silent people were forbidden to talk to many, which was meant by "Domostroy".
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