(a) taste curiosity, a common beverage, the censure of the Church, an infidel drink, a forerunner, to sober up, detractors, a public venture, to flourish, a convivial atmosphere.

HOSPITALITY THROUGH

CENTURIES

A. READING

The word hospitality conies from " hospice", an old French word meaning " to provide care and shelter". The first institutions of this kind, taverns, had existed long before the word was coined. In Ancient Rome they were located on the main roads, to provide food and fresh horses and overnight accommodation for officials and couriers of the government with special documents. The contemporaries proclaimed these inns to be " fit for a king". That is why such documents became a symbol of status and were subject to thefts and forgeries.

Some wealthy landowners built their own taverns on the edges of their estates. Nearer the cities, inns and taverns were run by freemen or by retired gladiators who would invest their savings in this business in the same way that many of today's retired athletes open restaurants. Innkeepers, as a whole, were hardly the Conrad Hiltons of their day. Inns for common folk were regarded as dens of vice and often served as houses of pleasure. The owners were required to report any customers who planned crimes in their taverns. The penalty for not doing so was death. The death penalty could be imposed merely for watering the beer!

After the fall of the Roman Empire, public hospitality for the ordinary travelers became the province of religious orders. In these days, the main purpose of traveling was pilgrimage to the holy places. The pilgrims preferred to stay in the inns located close to religious sites or even on the premises of the monasteries. Monks raised their own provisions on their own grounds, kitchens were cleaner and better organized than in private households. So the food was often of a quality superior to that found elsewhere on the road.

As travel increased during the Middle Ages, so did the number of wayside inns. In England, the stagecoach became the favored method of transportation. A journey from London to a city like Bath took three days with several stopovers at inns or taverns that were also called " post houses". Guests often slept on mattresses put in what would be called the lobby, ate what they had brought with them or what they could purchase from the house. The fare was usually bread, meat, and beer, varied occasionally with fish. Frequently, the main dish served was a long-cooked highly seasoned meat-and-vegetable stew. But the diners who were fre quenters were not choosy, neither did they often question what they were eating.

EXERCISES

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sun that you are able to explain in English what they mean, and add them to your working vocabulary:

to be located, overnight accommodation, to be run by, to impose penally, a wayside inn, a stagecoach, a stopover, to pur chase, a diner.

2. Write out frот the text the sentences or their parts which contain the words and phrases given below and translate them into Russian:

to be coined, to provide smth, to be subject to, to invest in common folk, dens of vice, on the premises, a highly-seasoned dish, to be choosy.

3. Explain in English what is meant by:

to be fit for a king to be subject to forgeries, the Conrad Hiltons of their day, to serve as houses of pleasure, to water the beer, religious orders, a frequenter.

4. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the origin of the word " hospitality"?

2. What was the most important function of a Roman tavern?

3. What did the contemporaries say about these places?

4. Was it prestigious to be an innkeeper in those days?

5. What was the main purpose of traveling during the Middle Ages?

6. What sort of place was a wayside inn?

7. What food was provided in the eating places for common people?

B. GUIDED COMPOSITION

ASSIGNMENTS

Read the text, find in it the Russian equivalents of the following topical words and phrases:

(a) taste curiosity, a common beverage, the censure of the Church, an infidel drink, a forerunner, to sober up, detractors, a public venture, to flourish, a convivial atmosphere.

В XVI столетии два «экзотических» предмета экспорта начали оказывать влияние на застольные привычки Западной Европы: кофе и чай. На это напитки, составляющие неотъемлемую часть стиля жизни в XX столетии, когда-то смотрели как на курьезные причуды вкуса. Чай утверждался в качестве привычного напитка еще медленнее, чем кофе, и получил по-настоящему широкое распространение разве только в Англии, да к то лишь к середине XIX века.

Бывая в Константинополе (город в Турции, теперь известный как Стамбул), путешественники пристрастились к кофе и, возвращаясь в Европу, привозили его с собой. К концу XVI столетия кофе привлек к себе достаточно внимания, чтобы навлечь неодобрение католической церкви, назвавшей его «напитком нехристей». Только при папе Клементе VIII кофе получил статус христианского напитка. Говорят, что папа, попробовав его, заметил, что сатанинский напиток слишком хорош, чтобы оставлять его язычникам. Кофейни, предшественницы современных кафе скоро

стали центрами культурной и литературной жизни своего времени и, кроме того, сыграли еще одну полезную (хотя и

Не СТОЛЬ очевидную) роль: ОНИ ПОМОГЛИ В отрезвлении всего Европейского континента. Возможно, именно за это кофейни имели и своих отчаянных противников, Женщины их просто ненавидели, поскольку они, как и большинство прочих общественных заведений, собирали преимущественно мужскую компанию. Женщины писали бесконечные петиции властям, обвиняя кофейни во всех смертных грехах. но все было напрасно: кофейни процветали. Они славились своей компанейской атмосферой: там можно было с приятностью посидеть у теплого камина с чашкой в руке, смакуя ароматный напиток и обсуждая с другими посетителями новости дня. Эта традиция не особенно изменилась по прошествии лет, что отделяют нас от «эпохи кофеен».

2. Read the text again, find in it the information about the following questions and answer them in writing, trying to use the words and phrases given in Task 1, together with your own comment on some of these questions:

1. When did tea and coffee change their status of taste curiosities to become common beverages?

2. When and how did coffee get the status of Christian beverage, having overcome the censure of the Church?

3. How did coffee houses he! p to sober up Europe?

4. Why did coffee houses have so many detractors among women?

5. What were the coffee houses famous for?

LESSON 2: MODERN CONCEPT OF HOSPITALITY

A. READING

Modern concept of hospitality began to develop in the nineteenth century, which saw more innovations in hospitality than in all previous history. The famed Cesar Ritz, whose name has entered the vocabulary as a synonym for luxury, made restaurant dining at London's Savoy almost a must for the aristocracy of both sexes. He revolutionized hotel restaurants by offering a list (carte in French) of suggestions available from the kitchen. This was the beginning of the а la carte menu. The Americans used their special brand of ingenuity to create something for everyone. In 1848, a hierarchy of eateries existed in New York City. At the bottom was Sweeney's " sixpenny eating house" on Ann Street, whose owner, Daniel Sweeney, achieved questionable fame as the fattier of the greasy spoon. Sweeney's less-than-appetizing fare was literally thrown down to his hungry customers, who cared little for the social amenities of dining. At the top of the list was the famous Del-monicoY This restaurant was known as the most expensive in the country.

In the nineteenth century, better methods of preserving food through canning and vacuum (lacking made out-of-season culinary delights commonplace. There was also an enormous growth in mass feeding. In schools, until the nineteenth century, no one had ever considered lunches for schoolchildren, because there were so few children who went to school. Canteens for schoolchildren started in France in 1849. The cafeteria concept originated in the California Gold Rush, when prospectors, eager to return to their claims, preferred to stand in line to be served from big communal bowls and pots rather than wait their turn at table.

The twentieth century brought fast food industry. In 1921, Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram began the White Castle hamburger chains. These eye-catching restaurants were nothing more than a griddle and a few chairs, but people came in droves to these eye-catching restaurants, and within ten years the White Castle had expanded to 115 units. Mar-rioti's Hot Shoppe drive-in roadside restaurant opened in 1927, and the word " a carhopper" was coined because as an order taker approached a car, he or she would hop onto its running board. The first motel was opened in San Luis Obispo, not far from Los Angeles, in 1925.

After the stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression, America rebounded with the elegance and deluxe dining of the 1930. By the end of the decade, every city had a deluxe supper club or a night club. The first elegant American restaurant that was not French in style was the Four Seasons. It offered seasonal menus (summer, autumn, winter, spring) and art as a theme. Its developer understood why people go to restaurants — to be together and to connect with one another. Modern restaurant exists to create pleasure, and how well it meets this expectation is a measure of its success. The exclusive restaurant of yesterday may be still exclusive restaurant of today, but the less affluent people can choose from great many cheap eating places. Nowadays people have freedom of choice, and they expect to have affordable accommodation, food, and entertainment — things of which hospitality industry is made.

EXERCISES

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sure that you are able to explain what they mean in English, and add them to your working vocabulary:

a canteen, a cafeteria, to stand in line, a hamburger chain, a drive-in, a carhopper, an order taker, a deluxe supper club, a developer.

2. Explain in English what is meant by:

a hierarchy of eateries, to achieve questionable fame as out-of-season culinary delights, an eye-catching restaurant, the name stands for, an original restaurant, to offer art as a theme.

3. Write out from the text the sentences or their parts contain my, the words and phrases given below and translate them into Russian: social amenities, to originate, prospectors, to rebound, a must. ingenuity, questionable fame, a canteen, a cafeteria, a communal bowl, to be coined, to meet the expectations.

4. Answer the following questions:

1. What does the name of Cesar Ritz stand for in the history of hospitality?

2. What was remarkable about American eating places?

3. What do the names of Sweeney and Delmonico stand for?

4. How and when were the concepts of canteen and cafeteria developed?

5. What changes in eating habits were developed in the twentieth century?

6. Why do the people go to the restaurant? What do they expect while eating out?

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