Barmecides: a very interesting word, helen, that I recently had occasion to research.
The Barmecides were apparently a group of people (I'm unsure whether it was an ethnic group or a social caste), and the phrase "barmecide feast" comes from the tale in the arabian nights, to which dr. bill provided a link. In that tale a rich barmecide purported to serve a sumptuous meal to a beggar. He set a fine table and talked volubly of the wonderful food and wine the two of them were eating and drinking together -- all of which was illusory, for in fact the plates and glasses were completely empty.
I discovered this phrase years ago in reading the play
Lysistrata, and specifically the scene in which a young wife teases her husband with unfulfilled promises of assignation.
How's that for delicate phraseology? 
In my translation, the gentlemen comments, "A veritable feast of Bamedcides," and the footnote solemnly informs the reader that such was "a feast at which no food is served." Other translators more pithily render the husband's remark as, "The only thing getting laid here is the table."
For years, until I recently looked it up, I'd assumed that the term in my
Lysistrata translation referred to a feast-custom among the ancient greeks at the time of that play.
EDIT: You can find further information in the links noted in the post at
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=61061
