A traditional Kazakh dinner involves a multitude of appetisers on the table, followed by a soup and one or two main courses such as pilaf and beshbarmak.

Similarly, the series Mad Men, with its dashing advertising executives who consume women like lunchtime cocktails, plumbs the emptiness and destructiveness of early 1960 s male sexual prerogative.

At 11 30, as a victorious Sophia trades her karate uniform for something better suited for her sister s graduation, Sam receives a text message confirming that a small temperature controlled pod has delivered the appetizers for Sally s party in the secure, refrigerated drop box at the house.