Open Sandwiches

Here is a food gem from Poul Anderson's Terran Empire. Instead of programming the high tech chef-machine for lunch during an interstellar voyage, Dominic Flandry's servant, Chives, skillfully constructs open sandwiches with:

anchovies and pimentos on sliced hard boiled eggs and fresh mayonnaise;

caviar and lemon peel with pate de foie gras;

cucumber and alfalfa sprouts on mature cheddar cheese -

- accompanied by akvavit and beer. The meal is served in silver, china and glass on a white table cloth. Thus, it delights the eye as well as the palate.

-Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry, (New York, 2012), pp. 397-398.

It has become pleasurable to illustrate summarized fictional meals with appropriate images from the web.

Having ordered a copy of Marching Through Georgia by SM Stirling, I will be interested to learn whether Stirling's Draka eat as well as his New

Virginians or New British Imperialists or indeed as well as Anderson's merchant princes and Imperial Intelligence agents.

However, I will be equally interested in every aspect of Draka society, not just in its culinary customs!