Social Hunger

How we eat in public and how we eat in private: for some, there is a different face, for some not. Feeding those considered in high society is tricky, and can require much patience. At first, there is the veneer of not needing food. After all, the ladies suffered to fit into their cocktail dresses and gowns. Certain gay men stick to their drink-as-diet-food regiment, claiming their white cosmopolitan will be their dinner. Other more ambiguous and straight men tend to be the easiest, but few in supply at parties generally. There seems to be a curious fear of the fatty rich hors d’oeuvres. I suppose it is more wariness than fear

Again, patience will win out. Eventually, all those cocktails and pinot noirs imbibed forces their bodies to be realistic. Either those listening to their screaming bodies leave to gorge in private, who knows? The rest finally give in, usually making apologies to those around them, feeling the need to explain. “I haven’t eaten all day.” “I think i’m ready for dinner…hahahaha.”

Of course, at every party, there are those who really don’t care what people think. They could be new to being served food on a tray, or they are working in a different capacity. In their minds, they’d like to tip the hors d’oeuvres tray and slide the tasty contents into their mouths. Uncouth behavior around free food takes all kinds. Anxious society photographers will nosh off your tray one moment and push you out of their way the next for that precious shot. The catering waiter and the society photographer both competing to do their jobs.