1.   And in no time at all, it seemed, plates of food arrived -- a delicious mixture of fish, most of which Lindsey dismally failed to recognise.

2.   At table after table, French diners, after a scandalized intake of breath, were laughing as the plates arrived, and who could blame them?

3.   But many of us overeat simply because the plate arrives generously loaded.

4.   Diners who have been plied with preappetizers and two rounds of dessert are not necessarily in a receptive mood when a heaping plate of mignardises arrives.