Russian Table Manners (Part 1)

A good russian night-out always start with fine dining. A veteran drinker will need to fill his stomach up with as much mayonnaise and lard as possible before the marathon (A brief moment of biology for dummies: Fatty food somehow stops or slows the flow of alcohol into the bloodstream.)

Notice that on the table, there are a lot of greasy starters like some types of ham, eggplant with mayonnaise, some salad with mayonnaise and even mayonnaise itself. The ill coloured liquid in the jars is called "Orange Juice" in Russia (and they actually drink it).

The battleground is ready: The food, the plates and a beautiful waitress

After some countless rounds of vodka shots and toasts (to people, ranging from our parents to Queen Elizabeth II and to things, ranging from our beloved motherland to Disneyland), some people leave the table for a dance, some prefer to go home (if they can) and some prefer fight in the snow.

So on a western drink table, you would look for cups of cofee through the end; but in Russia, bottles of beer arrive for a last glimpse of hope for survival and sobering up. I haven't tried if it works or not; but noticing a lot of beer-smelling people in the metro at 8 am in the morning, I can say that it somehow does.

What remains in the morning: The food, the plates and a drunk friend.

(Photos: Courtesy of copydude)