Kym's letter

My wife and I enjoy observing different cultures when we travel. At a game reserve in Botswana, women from a near-by village prepared traditional meals at our lodge - a lot of meat dishes (with springbok, warthog and impala wandering around). The table reflected our setting with wonderful dinner plates, hand-made by a local potter and napkins in the shape of an Africa animal. (The one in the photo is an elephant, possibly more striking in real life!) I know that this borders on the ‘fan in the glass’ style but it suited the occasion perfectly. 
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Williamsburg in Virginia, is a recreated a village. It is the largest living history museum in America, depicting life in the 1780s during the formative years when the colony became the United States of America. 
 
We admired the napkins used in the 18th century when we ate at the seafood restaurant, Christiana Campbell’s Tavern. They serve such dishes as Catfish Stew and Clam Chowder. Not only were the crockery, cutlery and food in the style of the 1780s but also the napkins. They were over 1 x 1 metre square and were worn tied around the neck. (See Jenny as she prepares to eat her dish of shrimps.)
 
Note the correct way in which she holds her knife and fork. She has never forgotten as a child when her father threatened to sticky-tape her index finger to the fork.