The diet of the nobility really only differed in quantity and quality than that of the peasants until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Russian nobility had had a long love affair with the culture of gluttony. Elaborate feasts were brought out to the awaiting guests as if it was a parade of art. Special guests were awarded prime cuts of meat or whole roasted animals to then divide to their liking. Alcohol of all forms, but primarily infused vodka, flowed and was readily consumed.6 Until Peter the Great took the throne, the actually variety of food served was not very different than what the peasants ate, but in vastly different amounts. Meat was a prime dietary element for the nobles, but so were grains (although ordinarily prepared