GLYNDEBOURNE FOOD
SIR.—Mr. Leslie Adrian presumes that Glyndebourne gives little thought to the catering provided for its audiences. The reverse is the case.
The system whereby a member of the audience booking his tickets in advance may also order his dinner in advance results in the majority of the four hundred-odd diners who make their way at one time to the dining hall being able to be served without the necessary delay that ordering on the spot by so large a number would cause. Is there any comparable restaurant in this country that has to cope with four hundred diners in so concentrated a period of time and an a la carte menu? It also means that those who have not ordered in advance, and nobody is obliged to, can be served with a minimum of delay and it means that those who do know in advance what they would like to drink before or with the soup can find it on the table without having to join the inevitable struggle at the bar. More than three-quarters of all ticket holders dining in the restaurant do order in advance, which surely indicates that this is an appre- ciaied service. If Mr. Adrian really thinks 'things worked perfectly well in the old days' his experience must have been happier than any of the others who have brought theirs to my notice or his memory must go back to far prewar days when the theatre seated just half as many people as it does now.
The alterations made for the coming season to the cold buffet have been made in response to a general request for a quick service akin to that available at shows and events of that kind. Some people like to sit over their dinner in the dining hall, some prefer to bring their own picnic to eat in the garden, and some wish to spend most of the interval in the garden but also to be able to get solid refreshment in a short space of time.
It is easy to be comic about descriptions of wine, but surely no one who cares for wine can disregard M. Andre Simon's opinion and there are few indeed who can pick their way knowledgeably through suet' a comprehensive and intricate list of fine German estate-bottled wines as Glyndebourne provides, and fewer still who are not grateful for M. Simon's help.
Ungracious living is not the dose we seek to administer. It seems a pity on the other hand that Mr. Adrian's somewhat ungracious comments should have been handed out in advance of the event.— Yours faithfully, MORAN CAPLAT General Manager Glyndebourne Festival Opera
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