In opera, eating and drinking function largely as they do in society—they define social relationships…. [Some] gastromusicological laws may be deduced from Verdi’s operas:
- A meal is never sad.
- Hunger is never happy.
- A shared meal or drink is a socially cohesive event.
- The presence of food or drink precludes immediate catastrophe (unless poison is involved)….
This according to “Feasting and fasting in Verdi’s operas” by Pierpaolo Polzonetti (Studi verdiani XIV [1999] pp. 69–106). In this video, Placido Domingo and Teresa Stratas in Act 1 of La Traviata.