Berardo Paradiso chewed slowly, his fork halfway to his mouth. “Basil and pepper, they are a very good boyfriend and girlfriend,” he said, gazing at the two sauces around the fillet of red snapper with potatoes and string beans. “Naturally, the potato is very much the witness of the wedding.”

But something wasn’t right. “It’s like being in a concert, and you have the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra playing,” he said. “It is still a great orchestra, but there is somebody sleeping next to you and making little snores. That is what the string beans are.”