A Russian Feast

[Guest guest]

As I had my daily workout this morning, I reflected upon the

Russian feast that I attended yesterday. The occasion was

the 75th birthday of a friend of the family. He is very

energetic, travels constantly, and lives as if there is no

tomorrow. Two years ago, he had some stents put in his

heart and actually stopped smoking for about six months.

His attempts at diet have failed and he is at least 60 pound

overweight. I am afraid that my gift, Ornish's CVD reversal

diet book, will fall on deaf ears because there is a Russian

saying that translates as " whoever does not smoke and drink

will die in good health " . I wonder if he will even open the

book and find the $50.00 bill that I placed as a book

marker.

The tables overflowed with food and actually some plates

were stacked in pyramids. The appetizers included smoked

salmon with wedges of lemon and thinly sliced onions,

seaweed salad with lumpfish caviar, pickled cabbage,

tomato/onions/cucumber salad, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad,

slices of boiled tongue, puff pastry stuffed with cheese,

and crepes with salmon roe. The main dishes were shish-kabobs with

rice, lamb stew and potato dumplings, slabs of fried fish, crab legs

and shrimp over rice, and baked chicken. The 8 tables, with about 10

guests each, had bottles of vodka, bottles of red and white wine,

and pitchers of soft drinks. For dessert there was coffee,

tea, Napoleon pastries stuffed with cream, cakes, cream

puffs, and chocolate candies. The banquet lasted 6 hours

with a constant stream of anecdotes, poems, songs, and

dancing. Everybody had a good time and guests were invited

for breakfast the next day. As I wrote this note, I got a

call to see if I was coming for breakfast.

Although I ate what I estimate to be 3000 calories just tasting

the dishes, I was a culinary weakling in all respects. Two

hefty guests seated beside me consumed 3/4 of a two-liter

bottle of vodka without showing any signs of intoxication.

Of course, they did not do this on an empty stomach. Each

consumed an amount of food comparable to what I would eat

in 3 days.

A couple of people that I had not seen for some time

worriedly remarked that I looked very thin. " Are you OK? " ,

they asked. They are not used to seeing people with a BMI

in the normal range.

Tony