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Book Review: The Rituals of Dinner - The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities and Meaning of Table Manners by Margaret Visser

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Book cover.

The purpose of table manners is to stop us killing each other. That's the rather provocative assertion in Margaret Visser's excellent deconstruction of why we have such elaborate and infuriating rituals around eating. It starts, naturally enough, with a chapter on human sacrifice. It is grim, violent, and soaked in blood. A delightful amuse-bouche this isn't! But it makes the case that this is…