IN A ROMAN OSTERIA by Carl Bloch 1866

Saw this on FB today.  Sort of laughing about the comments they attached albeit they should have enclosed it in a SPEECH BUBBLE.  My interest in this is the napkin on the girls head.  This is what I found.  I believe they are eating an ortolan bird.

QUOTE The birds are caught with nets set during their autumn migratory flight to Africa. They are then kept in covered cages or boxes. This "artificial night" causes the birds to gorge themselves on grain (usually millet seed) until they double their bulk. "Roman Emperors stabbed out ortolans’ eyes in order to make the birds think it was night, making them eat even more". The birds are then thrown into a container of Armagnac which both drowns and marinates the birds.^[5]

The bird is roasted for 8 minutes and then plucked. The consumer then places the bird feet first into their mouth while holding onto the bird's head. The ortolan is then eaten whole, or without the head and the consumer spits out the larger bones. The traditional way French gourmands eat ortolans is to cover their heads and face with a large napkin or towel while consuming the bird. The purpose of the towel is debated. Some claim it is to retain the maximum aroma with the flavour as they consume the entire bird at once, others have stated "Tradition dictates that this is to shield – from God’s eyes – the shame of such a decadent and disgraceful act",^[5] and others have suggested the towel hides the consumers spitting out bones.^[6] This use of the towel was begun by a priest, a friend of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. END OF QUOTE

THE GOOD NEWS IS ortolan hunting has been BANNED as of 2007.