West Germany: The Ultimate Status Symbol

At his villa by Bavaria's Tegernsee, a West German industrialist recently celebrated the 18th birthday of his daughter with an intimate party for 100. The 20-ft.-long, damask-covered buffet table was laden with baked Prague ham, Alpine trout stuffed with Iranian caviar, roast venison from the Black Forest, Texas rattlesnake meat, capon breasts and small partridges on toast, Stuttgart quail, alligator soup, Strasbourg pâté de foie gras and aged black Chinese eggs. For hors d'oeuvres there were salted jasmine flowers, candied silkworms, toasted grasshoppers and grilled African honeybee. The wines were Moët & Chandon champagne ('59 and '61) and reds...

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