Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s2.t1.141

c7.s2.t1.141

The banquets and feasts of the old nobility were conspicuous for their Gargantuan measures of every food and other requirements. On an average, one guest was served with twenty to fifty dishes.² Making a full allowance for their huge appetites and greedy stomachs, it cannot be denied that there was as terrible waste of good food, and this can only be explained in the light of their ideas of social respectability. The abundance of the dining table was the measure of hospitality, and waste as of no consequence, for a crowd of menials, domestics and beggars was always at hand to share in the leavings. One feature of social life which has comparatively gone out of use, was the number of public bakeries, where almost every variety of cooked food and uncooked victuals could be bought at a reasonable price.³ This was, however, in general opposed to the Hindu ideas of cooking and eating.