There are symbolic exceptions for close quarters. Two separate cloths laid over a table, with serving dishes on each cloth. In lean times, you might prepare the same dish of vegetables and meat, with two tureens of sauce, once spiced and one sweet.

There are men who are intellectual, of course- all if this is absolutely stupid, based on superstition and religion, and it should largely be abolished.

[Adding, quickly, to be sure he knows she's reporting, not condoning.]

But a man who wished to read or do research would pledge himself to a devotary and become an ardent- a religious position.