WHAT DO YOU FEED A KING, dulled to every luxury beyond want? But when he reached for his napkin, it shattered, a handful of dust. It hardly mattered, then, that this was a feast of nothing, too sweet to eat. It was a fantasy of abundance at a time when, for much of the population, food was no certainty. (Inevitably, a disapproving tone crept in, and by the 16th century, Cockaigne was a cautionary tale of gluttony and sloth.)

Source: New York Times August 11, 2021 12:56 UTC