What do you think of this sentence about afternoon tea?

[MsAmerica]

I thought you might like this:

What do you think of this second sentence, purely as a sentence, but also in terms of punctuation?

There was a silver tea-pot, and a silver kettle with a little spirit-lamp underneath, and a silver cream jug and a covered silver dish full of muffins. There was also hot buttered toast and honey and gentleman’s relish and a chocolate cake, a cherry cake, a seed cake and a fruit cake and some tomato sandwiches and pepper and salt and currant bread and butter.

For me, pepper and sait is another trick that stops it from reading like a shopping list and the reader from going into autopilot.

One effect of good writing is to make us see things fresh, and reversing the order we expect (as well as mentioning salt and pepper at all) does this.

It's also, quite simply, like the sentence structure, not incorrect. There's no rule against saying "pepper and salt". It's just not what we usually say, and Waugh is using that to give us a bit of a jolt.

'Patum', not my incorrect thought of 'pater'. Thank you. Ah, paste.
I suppose Pater Peperium would be nearer to Daddy's Sauce.

It conjures his eyes skipping across the table, noticing one thing after another- in the order they are seen rather than expected.
I thought it was Wind in the Willows, too.
I like it.

Wonder what it tastes like.

I agree. If this was by a teen in an English class, he would have had his knuckles rapped.