Several times each year the Queen gives afternoon tea parties at which guests are served tiny cakes filled with cream from her own cows. Cakes and sandwiches are brought in by footmen, yet you never see the Queen touch a thing. She simply sits beside a big silver plate, pouring cups of tea for everyone and carefully avoiding the cakes.        At cocktail parties the Queen moves from group to group, chatting informally, and manages to make one glass of diet drink to last an entire evening.        Tours abroad are difficult because hosts seem to believe the warmth of their welcome must be shown with wonderful state banquets . But the Queen has perfected the art of appearing to enjoy her meal without actually eating much.        During one visit to the Pacific islands ofprefix = st1 /Tonga, a specially-prepared dinner was arranged in a hut made of wood and bamboo leaves. Deep holes were dug in the ground, filled with hot stones and baby pigs, and the pigs were slowly baked over several days. The Queen looked uneasily at her plate when she discovered a whole roast pig was her serving.        Then she became uneasy when a turkey, some meat, bananas and an apple were also carried in for each guest. So she depended on her old favorite trick of talking with her host., King Tupou IV, carrying on a warm conversation. At the same time she pushed her food around her plate and only ate a piece of turkey and some fruit.        Reporters traveling with her have noted that the Queen will sometimes seem so carried away by a foreign leader's political chat that she simply never has time to finish a meal before it is time to get up and make her speech. She will lift her fork to swallow a mouthful, then put it down again to make another point, leaving almost all of her meal untouched. What probably is the Queen's art of acting at state dinners?
Appearing to enjoy her meal without actually eating much. Drinking Malvern water. Eating a piece of turkey and some fruit. Eating much without being noticed.