Letter: Bon appetit for French Communists

Sir: Angela Lambert's recollection of the late Eric Heffer's fondness for West End restaurants - 'nothing is too good for socialists' ('We're all a bit more loony now', 7 June) - reminded me of Francois Gilot's account of her and Pablo Picasso's exposure to the eating habits of French Communists:

Each one ate enough for four. Even old Marcel Cachin, dean of the Party hierarchy, scrawny as he was, would put away all kinds of appetizers, a fish, steak, salad, cheeses, a fancy dessert and coffee washed down with plenty of good wine . . . 'What appetites those people have,' Pablo said to me after one of their visits. 'I suppose it's because they're materialists. But they are in more danger from their arteries than from the inequities inherent in the capitalistic system.'

Yours sincerely,

MICHAEL DALEY

East Barnet, Hertfordshire

8 June