Chapter Four: Dinner Is Served
Introduction (pp. 155–156)
On Nero’s banqueting hall: Suetonius, Nero, 31.2; Lehmann. On death images at dinner: Herodotus, 2.78, Plutarch, Sages, 148.
The First Bite (pp. 156–165)
Medieval mealtime ceremony is described by Cosman, and Schiedlausky. For Ceaucescu and his taster, see Pick. Grace among the Abbasids: Ahsan, 102; the Igbo: Okere, 194; the Ainus: Batchelor, 9; the North Americans: Porter. Spanish formal offers to share the meal with strangers: Pitt-Rivers; Portuguese: Dias, 90. Starting the banquet in Melanesian New Ireland: Powdermaker. Grace at dinner with Ivan the Terrible: Smith and Christian, 112–13. Consciously consuming the first bite: Bennett.
Taking Note of Our Surroundings (pp. 165–175)
In the original, the quotation from Russell: “Pope, Emperowre, Kynge or Cardinalle …” includes “Duke” among them. Heal (1990) gives interesting plans of medieval halls, illustrating the hierarchical principles. On “banquets” after dinner: Girouard, Hughes. On tables in seventeenth-century Parisian apartments: Pardailhé-Galabrun. There are splendid illustrations of Baroque buffets in Bursche; Brett, 31, explains about the number of shelves. On Greek and Roman dinner tables, see Richter. On Japanese business lunches, Befu. Hewes enumerates and illustrates the sitting postures of humankind. On lying down to eat and drink, see Rudofsky, Dentzer, Murray (1983), Chuvin, and Boardman. The quotation from The Book of Amos is in 6.4–7. “Cassander, at the age of thirty-five …”: Athenaeus, 1.18a. Boardman suggests the reason why ancient Greek gods sit up at their meals. Plutarch on lying down at meals: Symposiacs, v.6.679e–8ob. Horace, Satires, II.viii, describes a Roman dinner that ends in disaster; Petronius’ Trimalchio’s Feast is an important, if fanciful, source of information on Roman banqueting. Rudofsky (1980) reminds us of the oddity of St. John’s behaviour in medieval and Renaissance depictions of the Last Supper.
The Prospect Before Us (pp. 175–188)
Friedländer documents the first mention of Roman tablecloths, 97. Belden, 17, explains the origin of place mats. For superstitions about salt, see Visser, Ch. 2. Oman gives an illustrated description and history of medieval salt nefs. Palmer’s book is a scholarly and entertaining account of the times of day when meals have habitually been eaten in Britain, and how mealtimes have changed since the sixteenth century; he explains the history of lunch. The Veneerings’ “caravan of camels”: Our Mutual Friend, 10. Madame de Sévigné on the crashing pyramid: Lettres I.351. There is a picture of a plateau in Belden. General sources on the history of European and American table settings include Belden, Brüning, Lehne, G. R. Smith, Arminjon, Howe, and Wheaton. For sableurs, see Gruber, and Wheaton, 186–93. The information that eighteenth-century people often found real flowers not “cultured” enough comes from Belden; but Wheaton and Bursche show that real flowers were popular in France, Germany, and Italy. Staffe (1892), 221, gives an illustration of a huge nineteenth-century table loaded with a splendid flower display, round the edge of which the places are set.
Montaigne’s words, “I would dine without a tablecloth …” are from his essay “On Experience.” For the Flathead Indians of Montana, see Turney-High. Hot cloths for wiping faces in China: Lamb. Rolling tablecloths on tubes: Belden, 13–14. Folding table napkins in late sixteenth-century Italy, with illustrations: Giegher. The bread “usually fell on the floor”: Post (1922), 197. Dogs tied to symposiasts’ couches are depicted, for example, on a Corinthian crater (a large pot for mixing wine with water) now in the Louvre; see J. Charbonneaux, R. Martin, and F. Villard, Archaic Greek Art (New York: Braziller, 1971), 42. The illustration from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry by the Limbourg brothers may be seen in C. Clifton, The Art of Food (London: Windward, 1988), 25. Deonna and Renard publish a photograph of an asaroton mosaic floor.
Fingers (pp. 188–200)
Ahsan’s book on Abbasid social life is an invaluable source of information for ninth-century Arab manners; Lane’s description of nineteenth-century Egyptian society is a classic in its genre; and Kanafani’s work on aesthetics in the United Arab Emirates is the kind of research of which modern ethnographers and historians of mentalités stand most in need. For the honest response of even broad-minded, well-travelled Westerners who come “up against reality” at a meal eaten with the hands, see Davidson. The greedy Greco-Roman banqueter: Athenaeus, I.5e. Celts “clutch whole joints and bite”: Athenaeus, 4.151e. The Chaucer quotation is in Nevill Coghill’s translation, 20–21. For table manners in medieval Hungary, see Balassa and Ortutay, 157. On the hollowed table-top and dinner à l’assiette, R. Muchembled, 456; see also Gourarier (1985), 317.
Chopsticks (pp. 201–206)
Fr. Rodrigues on Japanese disgust at our table napkins: M. Cooper. Face-wiping with hot towels in China: Lamb, 15, 18. “There is something maternal …”: this quotation, and the others by Barthes in this section, 11–26. “The best mannered person …”: Hsü and Hsü, in Chang, 304. Dixon gives the names for bad table manners in Japan. Hu Yaobang’s opposition to chopsticks was reported by Burns. Twenty billion chopsticks in Japan: see the news story “‘Nobel’ Winner Silenced Over Rain Forests,” The Globe and Mail (Toronto), December 3, 1988 (the figures are for “last year”). Lamb gives the proverb about rattling chopsticks.
Knives, Forks, Spoons (pp. 206–220)
For the uses of the Chinese cleaver: E. N. and M. L. Anderson, “Modern China: South,” in Chang, 364. For more on folding knives carried habitually on the person and produced for use at dinner, see S. Moore. “Wrapping springy leaves around the tines …”: Post (1945), 493. Pagé quotes Tallement on Richelieu’s rule that dinner knives should have rounded ends. “When eating cheese …”: quoted in Evans; “let the edge be turned downward …”: Anon., 1845. The English eating peas from knife-blades: Le Grand d’Aussy, 3.149. The Freudian slip with the cake: Freud, 201.
St. Peter Damian’s horror of forks is alluded to by Henisch; Emery gives further details of the history of forks, esp. 39. On the pre-eminence of Italy and Spain in this history, see Franklin (1908) I, 287, and Lowie. The fresco with the flat metal plates standing on a buffet is in the Sala di Psiche of the Palazzo del Te; see E. Verheyen, The Palazzo del Te in Mantua: Images of Love and Politics. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977). Buhler and Graham stress the magnificence of French silver dinnerware in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Eliza Ware Farrar’s The Young Lady’s Friend (published anonymously in 1837) appeared in 1880 with “Mrs H. O. Ward,” as though she were the author, on the title page. This was a pseudonym of Mrs. C. S. Bloomfield-Moore. The quotation given is 1837, 346–47; the corresponding pages in 1880 are 297–98. Both knife and fork are to be held in the right hand, but the English way is easier: Branchereau, 188–89. The Freudian analysis of knife, fork, and spoon is by Hammel. Emery gives the history of the fig-shaped spoon bowl. “Never leave your coffee spoon …”: Andréani, 156.
Sequence (pp. 220–23;)
“A hundred soups …”: Goudeau, 139–40. Aron on the “centrepiece” of a meal, le rôt: 161. “Dishes like hailstones”: quoted by Belden, 34. The theory that a pièce de résistance meant a dish for which one resisted other dishes is suggested by Sokolov. C. A. Wilson describes a turtle dinner, 203–04. Entertainments at the Court of Burgundy at Bruges are described by de La Marche and Cartellieri. A description in 1868 of a dîner à la russe is given by Schuyler; the origin of the term is discussed by Wheaton in a note, 291; for a German dinner of a generally similar type, see Head. A description of a dinner setting for an “ambigu” à la française is quoted by Revel (1979), 231–33. The swift, carefully choreographed meal in 1680 is described by Wheaton, 142. The traditional three-fold structures of British meals are analysed by Douglas and Nicod (1974). Hudson and Pettifer include meals in their history of air travel. The Cantonese sihk puhn is described and analysed by Watson.
Helpings (pp. 235–254)
“A plate with food on it …”: Post (1922), 203. On
the Igbo famine, see Okere, 213. Post’s suggestion that one should pretend to serve wine is on page 205. Musil describes the manners of the Rwala Bedouin. Crossed spoons on the table as a decoration: Belden. Mme de Rothschild’s dinner service: Aron (1973), 233–34. The Japanese care with cups at the Tea Ceremony, Cha No Yu, is described by Dixon; see also J. Young, and Kondo. The Chinese have “no rules,” only “show appreciation”: Chao. The problem of the French as to whether or not to praise the food is described by Burgaud. “Did you expect not to eat well in my house?”: Pitt-Rivers. Quotations from the Baronne Staffe (1899): 210, 211. “To fill, or even to half fill, a soup plate …”: Anon., 1879. “Smell not to thy Meat …”: Anon., 1701. Polite Chinese guests eat warmed-up offerings as well: E. Cooper. Do not add salt and paprika before eating in Hungary: Braganti and Devine. Nigerian visitors do not say they have already eaten: Okere, 197. A Bedouin “enemy feast” is described by Seabrook. Displeased Pedi husband: Quin. Abbasid diners urge others to eat: Ahsan. The Canadian children’s game is described by Shuman. Bringing one’s own spoon and using it in the common dish, in seventeenth-century France: de La Salle. Lift food from the serving dish, do not slide it: Branchereau, 191. Taking “seconds” in various European countries: Braganti and Devine. It is rude to fill up on relish at ordinary meals in China: E. Cooper. Accepting only the third request: Anon., Li Chi; Hubert. The Sherpas fear “an empty mouth”: Ortner, 81. Arab hosts entreat guests to eat: Hawley (1984). The version of the great fish being a salmon and the host Talleyrand: see Blond, 474; the version given here is from Dumas, 302. Taking away food from a Sherpa banquet: Ortner, 80. Seuthes flinging loaves: Xenophon, Anabasis; Athenaeus, 4.151a-b.
Carving (pp. 254–271)
T. E. White gives archaeological reports on the hunting, carrying, and sharing habits of early South Dakota Indians. A series of medieval and Renaissance trousses is to be seen in the Museum of the Tower of London. On modern American males enjoying cooking on special occasions, see T. A. Adler. Damas (1972) describes the sharing customs of the Canadian Copper Eskimo; those of other groups are explained by Zumwalt, Goody (1962), Boas, L. Marshall, and H. N. C. Stevenson. For the sharing of the kangaroo by Australian Aborigines, see Isaacs; of the camel by Touaregs: Gast. On meat-eating after sacrifice, see Burkert Girard and Smith, E. Isaac, and Durand. For the possible origin of the word “hierarchy”: Baudy. Heracles’ rage when he was given too small a helping of meat: Athenaeus, 4.157f–58a. On medieval “great birds” eaten at dinner, and on swearing oaths over them: Witteveen, Whiting, de La Marche, Cartellieri, Baudrillart, Le Grand d’Aussy, and Blond. For the procession into the medieval hall of the Carver, the Taster, and other table dignitaries: Cosman. On medieval carving terms: de Worde, Hodgkin. Wooden models of joints for lessons in carving: Taylor (1664), 40, cf. Juvenal II.138–41. “To do the honours of the table gracefully …”: Stanhope, Son, letter no. 163; cf. Son, nos. 74, 243. Quotations from Mrs. Beeton: 502, 504, 506, 539–40. I have translated the story of Talleyrand’s “beef lesson” from Branchereau, 238.
The Red, the White, and the Gold (pp. 271–293)
On ancient Greek libations: Tolles, Rudhardt. Beer parties among the Iteso of Kenya and Uganda: Karp. Bringing one’s own cup, among the Igbo of Nigeria: Okere, 191. Claude Lévi-Strauss (1969) describes the ritual of pouring wine in popular Provençal restaurants. Sjögren-de Beauchaîne discusses modern bourgeois French habits of wine- and water-drinking at meals. “Three craters only do I mix for the temperate …”: Athenaeus, 2.36b–c. On saké, at the Japanese business lunch: Befu. On the reason for covers on German beer steins: Newnham-Davis. The Illyrians used to tighten their belts: Athenaeus, 10.443b. Pouring beer, among the Newars of Katmandu: Toffin; for more on the Newars, see Löwdin. Asking for beer or wine in Tudor England: Burton (1976). The ancient Mongol anxiety that guests get drunk: Mote in Chang, 207. On tumblers: Brett, Price. A glass of Schnapps for every button: Price. Chinese finger-games: Lamb. Toasting ritual in seventeenth-century Ireland: Rich. On the “ring” of glass: Monson-Fitzjohn. Remembering names when drinking healths: Simond, 47. The quotation from Little Dorrit: 412. Ancient Roman toasting practices: Deonna and Renard. The earliest temperance society: Dickson. “Catch the person’s eye and bow …”: Crowen. Not mentioning a woman’s name among the men: P. Mason, 79.
Table Talk (pp. 293–304)
On the philosopher Menedemus as host: Athenaeus, 10.419e–20c On Sherpa dining: Ortner, 9, and Ch. 4. The Newars of Katmandu are among those who make silence formal and talking familiar: Toffin. A British “proper” Sunday dinner involves “no TV”: Charles and Kerr, 184–85. See Goffman, esp. 1963, on dinner-table conversation. “Taciturn people are not good for society …”: Anon., Table Observances, 36. The French Navy’s tradition of table-top objects as aids and warnings for conversation is described by Arminjon and Blondel. Morel gives the rules for seventeenth-century dinner-time conversation in France; Clair publishes The Rules and Orders of the Coffee House (London, 1674). For the influence of table-top decorations on conversation, see Gourarier, and Burgaud. On the souper intime, see Wheaton, 156–59, with the illustration.
On Lord Chesterfield’s attitude towards laughing: Heltzel; J. E. Mason, 297 ff. The quotations from Chesterfield are from Stanhope, Son, letter no. 259, and Godson, letter no. 141. There is a good selection of nineteenth-century conversation rules in Australian Etiquette (Anon., 1885). “At dinner once, Mrs. Toplofty …”: Post (1922), 222. On the ideal of gentlemanly behaviour: P. Mason. “How awkward to ask …”: Anon., Table Observances, 36. “Politeness is universal toleration”: Anon., 1855. Women should not bother men, who have larger appetites: Anon., 1881. “Pay them the compliment of seeming …”: Anon., 1885. Danes like conversing round the table after dinner: Braganti and Devine.
Feeding, Feasts, and Females (pp. 304–318)
Foodstuffs are men’s “babies”: Kahn, esp. Ch. 6. “To eat” is frequently used for sex: Goody (1982), 114. “Philosophy should no more have a part in conversation …”: Plutarch, Symposiacs 612f–13a. But a wedding feast was a crowded affair …: Plutarch, Symposiacs 667b. Sherpa men are ranked, but women sit in a crowd: Ortner, 75. On men and women at a Winnebago feast: Radin. Women considering it a privilege to serve at a feast: Powdermaker, H. N. C. Stevenson. The separation of men and women at a Javanese slametan: Geertz; in Japan: Dixon, 1885; at the court in Imperial China: Mote in Chang, 220; in the United Arab Emirates: Kanafani; in nineteenth-century French peasant households: Gourarier (1985), 348, and Gourarier (1986). Young boys take their place among the men: Gourarier (1986). Wife as “mother of her husband”: L-V. Thomas. Women as “gatekeepers”: Lewin. Women making cooking and serving expressive of their feelings: Okere, Appadurai. Men having nothing to do with food: Meek, Okere. Men showing displeasure by refusing to eat: Okere, Quin. A polygamous male eats food prepared by the wife he is currently sleeping with: Goody (1982), 114.
Women’s power over beer and clay pots: Quin; Dionysus ruling both wine and pots: Lissarrague, 22; women’s power over beer: Toffin, Goody (1982), 73, 76. Fear of women as poisoners: Ortner, Bell; keeps men from roving: Quin. Nineteenth-century women neither asked for nor served themselves wine: Black; did not always accept it when offered: Anon., 1879; insisted, in France, that it be mixed with water: Staffe (1899), 208. On the Mediterranean custom of mixing water with wine: Flandrin (1983). Miss Manners on women not pouring wine: (1982), 653; a man should pour wine for the woman on his left: Bremner (1989). “Young ladies do not eat cheese …”: Evans. Women’s breath in danger of not pleasing men: Flandrin (1983). Slimmer chopsticks for Japanese women: Hirayama. The Kagoro tribe of Nigeria: Meek; the Pedi: Quin; the Assamese Hindus: Cantlie. Louis XIV and his queen: Wheaton, 132–33. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s carving: Halsband; that of eighteenth-century servants: Stead. The hostess “looks across the table …”: Post (1922), 223–24. Jingle in The Pickwick Papers, 85. British Factory House dinners in Oporto: Price, 26. On nineteenth-century American disapproval of the ladies le
aving the gentlemen, see, for example, Anon., 1855. Lord Cockburn’s Memorials are quoted in McNeill.
All Gone (pp. 318–330)
On the “thrive bit”: Bringéus. Roman superstition about removing a portion before the diner has finished: Deonna and Renard. Chinese guest of honour must stay until the end: E. Cooper. Different ways of laying down knives and forks: Braganti and Devine. Medieval after-dinner waferers: Southworth. The medieval British custom of toasting guests at the end: Black. The Constable of Castille at the English court in the seventeenth century: Rye. Marking the end of eating among Assamese Hindus: Cantlie; at a Chinese banquet: Fitzgerald. Drinking coffee, then tea, in nineteenth-century Britain: Anon., 1879. Coffee as an initiation ritual: Gusfield. A feast in the country among the Newars of Nepal: Toffin. Ending a meal in nineteenth-century Egypt: Lane; in nineteenth-century Russia: Schuyler. Catching the Chinese “Four Heavies”: Chao. For the famous incensing ceremony in the United Arab Emirates, see Kanafani, 25–27. Various ways of ending the evening in Europe: Braganti and Devine. Strategies for making guests leave, among the Pedi: Quin; the Ainu: Batchelor, 88; the Elizabethan English: Burton (1958). Seeing guests off in Latin America: Townsend, 40. Ending a Tanga feast: Bell. A later party: Toffin, Dixon; special delicacies for the previous host: Powdermaker.
Chapter Five: No Offence
Introduction (pp. 331–334)
The Rituals of Dinner Page 45