Mestro
The mestro is the communal meal of the day and is a central part of Astari culture. Most places have two communal meals a day where the entire village gathers to eat together.
It is a ritual of kinship and closeness. To eat with one is to recognise the another. As such, seating and table arrangements are very important. For village mestros, people are usually seated with their families. The head of the family sits at the head and his wife sits opposite him. One's spouse generally sits opposite them. Village officials don't sit with their families and have their own table.
But these are just official sittings. In reality, many people switch seats and dine with other families. To dine together on the same table was in some way acknowledging someone as your equal or as a friend. Families dining together is a sign of friendship and parents could set their children up by seating them together. In most villages, there was a central table for different people to sit and talk regardless of class. In times of hardship, village officials may sit with the lower class in solidarity.
Most villages serve three or so differently priced meals at the village dining hall and have a cook that works all day. Prices for the most basic meal are stable while those with expensive ingredients could change dramatically from season to season depending on the harvest and prices. Most households have a small crop and crop farmers may reserve some for themselves. But the mestros are an important, spiritual part of the day. It is rude to cooks to bring your own food, though most bring spices or small amounts of herbs. The private stocks of each house are to be eaten at home.
The Elder (and various village officials) are expected to only consume food during communal feasts so they may be vested in the continued quality of food. If an Elder doesn't properly distribute food, he may be lynched at the communal meal. In most villages, everyone eats the same food in times of hardship for low prices. If not, the hungry often snatch the food or gang up against those who eat extravagant food in front of them.
The mestro works very differently in the city. People still desire to dine with others. Dinner is usually a family mestro but sometimes work was far from home and people dined with their colleagues instead. Work mestros also carried their politics and were much more strict. You could only dine with people of your own class and occupation. Workplaces that didn't have a dining hall would have workers eat in taverns. Taverns were similarly class-based and those of lower classes would be barred entry to a high establishment unless suitably accompanied. In a tavern, one could mingle and dine with those of similar class.
Political mestros are incredibly complicated and are the work of the mistress or highest culinary servant of the house. If only one table is used, the guest must be seated at the head of the table next to the host at the highest elevation point if they are of equal or higher rank. If the guest is of significantly higher rank, they and their family may be seated only with the host while the host's family is placed on a lower elevation.
If a feast room is owned or rented, multiple tables are used. Feast halls have varying levels of elevation on all sides of the room to denote different status and tables are placed on those elevations. Feast tables may be commissioned for the specific hall or event. Feast tables are tables with ridges of different heights. A higher status family may dine on a higher elevated side to preserve their higher status but still symbolise unity and friendship by dining on the same table. The type of wood used for the tables are also of symbolic importance. One could snub another by dining on the same elevation but giving them a cheaper table. On very fanciful occasions, such as the blossom ceremony of a royal, houses may be allowed to bring their own tables. The richest will commission one specially for the event.
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