The sketch at left is a bit of graffiti scratched by a 1st century Roman who may have been keen to have some fun caricaturing then Emperor Nero – as some think – or just engaging in an impromptu bit of self-portraiture. It’s sure the wag never imagined it would still be amusing people 20 centuries on, but there it is. I was tickled by another piece of toilet stall humor from antiquity recently, a ditty that runs this way: Whoever wish to serve themselves can go get a drink from the sea. It looks to have been penned by some sassy Neapolitan barmaid wary of being deprived of the chance to provide the service that was the source of her tips, but there may be another layer or two in it worth peeling back.
Viewed from the perspective of our casual, self-service culture, it’s hard to imagine how thoroughly ritualized drinking was in the ancient world. In Plato’s Athens, among polite company, you didn’t either help yourself or drink freely. Nor did wine drinking happen at the family table, but was reserved for post-prandial events in places set apart for the purpose. The formal drinking party – known as a symposion – involved games, word-play, spontaneous poetry, competitive oratory, philosophical banter, music, and other diversions.
But amid the flirting and horseplay, its guiding principle was never lost sight of: drinking must proceed at a stately pace, with every guest draining his cup, in turn, in a series of rounds served out by a master of ceremonies and from which no one could excuse himself. To be capable of a witticism or song when your fellows no longer had legs under them was to wobble off with the laurels.
It’s curious that it was those emulators of all things Greek, the Romans, who eventually eroded both the communal and ritualized aspects of wine drinking. Early on, they redefined wine as an ordinary accompaniment to meals, taken without ceremony. As for self-service, we seem now to have totally bought into this barbarous practice. At home we put a carafe or bottle on the table with the cheery encouragement to “help yourselves!” It’s the same at most, but not all restaurants. I remember vividly a 1997 dinner at La Verriere, Chef Eric Frechon’s first restaurant in Paris’ 19th arrondissement (he later earned three Michelin stars at Le Bristol) when I was schooled on the subject by a young waiter.
Frechon’s place was little more than a homey neighborhood boite and the night we visited a single server was gamely working the entire dining room. He did his best, but couldn’t get around to every table with much frequency. Our glasses empty and throats dry, I reached tentatively for the bottle whereupon our harried server came flying over, whipped it out of my hand and said something in slangy French I couldn’t get but now recognize must have been something close to this: “Whoever wish to serve themselves can go get a drink from the sea.”
-Stephen Meuse
Taste, talk, and learn about wine this week in the FKC wine corner . . .
THURSDAY, APRIL 4 3-6 PM – MANNERS, PLEASE!
2016 Luis Pato, Bairrada Branco Vinhas Velhas, $21.95
2016 Les Têtes, “Lomer” Bordeaux Supérieur, $18.95
2017 Domaine Maestracci, “Clos Reginu ” Vin de Corse-Calvi, $17.95
FRIDAY, APRIL 5 3-6 PM – NEW ARRIVALS
2017 La Chapinière, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, $15.95
2018 Domaine de Pallus, Chinon Messanges Rosé, $16.95
2017 La Chapinière, Touraine Gamay $15.95