“The real sin of dinner parties is that they usurp the most basic human goodness of hospitality and succour and turn it into a homunculus of social climbing. But they also confuse two distinct occupations: cooks and chefs. Cooks do it at home for love. Chefs do it in public for money. Dinner parties are karaoke cheffery.”

A.A. Gill, Table Talk (2007), 28.