Renaissance Table Manners Just about every time period and every culture will have their own customs of table etiquette and manners. Thanks to the Renaissance, rules have since been put into place to describe how to properly handle oneself at the table. Many of these news rules consisted of: how the table should be set, how to behave oneself at the table and how to eat. The higher the class of people, the more intense and accurate the table would be set. The servants would set the table in more noble homes. For someone of lower class with guests over, the host would set the table and serve them. Setting the table must begin with the tablecloth. It was common for many to have their cloths made out of velvet or turkey carpets and eventually …show more content…
Next comes silverware and depending on the household, a guest might bring his own spoon and knife. The knife would be placed to the right of the plate, the bread to the left and the napkin would be nicely folded, resting on top of the plate. Above the main plate and underneath the napkin is where the “trencher” or pewter plate would be. This represented higher class and many middle class families did not have these in their homes. In a wealthier home, guests would be lead into a dining hall or chamber. The master of the house would sit at the base of the table with the more important guest to his left and the lesser guests the right. The very unimportant guests would sit more on the opposite ends of the table as well. The servants are not going to bring a ewer and a basin for guests to wash their hands, they were expected to thoroughly wash their hands before entering the dining room. Even servants would presently wash their hands before serving food. Dishes were to be laid out in a certain order, for presentation and the more important guests were to be served first, then everyone else …show more content…
For example, forks had not been invented yet; the people thought it took away from the meat itself, so the people used their hands. And as of 1608, it was still really unknown to many in England. On the other hand, the people of Italy would refuse to use their hands to eat because “…all men’s fingers are not alike clean” (Chamberlin 52). Spoons and knives existed, spoons were meant for soft foods and broths, while knives were and are still meant to help cut harder foods. You should also eat slowly and do not cram food into your mouth, therefore you will not hiccup or gasp for air in a way, which may be seen as a disgusting sound. Something even worse may be to gnaw, chop or even chew your food to the point where others around you can hear noises coming from your actions, eat quietly. You may then be perceived as a pig and not a man. You should especially leave bones alone and do not gnaw on them and only small morsels of meat should be eaten at a time. If your food is warm, let it sit and cool, do not blow on it in case you have bad
Traditionally most Elizabethan cooking was done over an open flame other cooking methods they use were: spin roasting, baking, boiling, smoking, salting and frying. Some things that were common for Elizabethan food recipes were that food and ingredient measurements were extremely basic. Quantities were not often specified temperature control was difficult because th...
When walking into the lobby, one will be greeted with a smile and be treated like family. They have a lovely dining room, filled with old family photos, which creates a real homey feel. In the center of the dining room is a grand family table. It’s great for family seating or a big event. When taking young children to a restaurant, many customers have difficulties having children happy or calm.
a large meal that has been set out for them by the maids. This is also
At the first glance of Conversation Piece, the image of a family of three relaxing near the dining table is shown.
During the Elizabethan Era, the foods that you ate were heavily based on what class of wealth you fit into! If you were part of the wealthy class, you would have a very large assortment of foods at your disposal to eat. If you were part of the middle class, you had some medley of foods to choose from. If you were part of the poor class, then you did not have near as many foods to choose from. However, if you were born into or part of the penury part of society, you had very few possible choices of food to pick from. The different classes in wealth ate very differently, back then (Sharnette.) The food that you ate, in the Elizabethan Era, heavily depended on whether you were wealthy or poor and was much different from the foods that we eat nowadays.
Whether friend or stranger, when a guest of any sort arrived the host would greet them and offer them food and drink before any further conversation or engagement of any kind would occur. If the host had considerable wealth, a maid would bring out a basin of water in a “graceful golden pitcher” to rinse their hands, seen in Book I (line 160) when Athena visits Telemachus, again in Book 4 (60) when Menelaus takes Telemachus and Athena as guests, and also in Book 7 when the King of the Phaeacians greets Odysseus. Appetizers, meats, and wines are all brought out and laid before the guest, as their coming is seen as a celebration, as seen when Telemachus is hosting Athena, “A staid housekeeper brought on bread to serve them,/appetizers aplenty too, lavishwith her bounty./A carver lifted platters of meat toward them,/meats of every sort…” (Book 1, 163-166) On several occasions, a particularly h...
In America, knives, forks, and spoons are necessary tools people have in order to function properly everyday. Without cutlery, people would continue to eat with their dirty, bacteria covered hands, slurping and licking their way through their meals. People would drink bowls of hot soup, maul steak like a feral dog stealing his first bone in weeks, and scoop large chunks of ice cream with frostbitten fingers. Like most individuals in the world, I never put too much thought into how important a spoon was until I needed it. I especially did not care where my family’s flatware came from or how they were created, as long as it was in the cabinet when I wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately, no one cares about a spoon, a fork, or
... I had never even seen most of the food displayed, I eagerly and respectfully tried each dish. After everyone in the room sat down at the massive table, the Rabbi picked up a glass of wine and made a prayer over it. Then, Rabbi Kanelsky passed around pieces of Challah bread to the entire table. This lunch festival was yet another ceremony dedicated to one of the member’s deceased relative. At the conclusion, the Rabbi said another prayer out loud for the deceased and the relative expressed his gratitude to everyone.
were still busy with the hors d'oeuvres when a tray would be brought in with a
sit." (III, 38) After you have invited them into your home, you must invite them to dine at your table. Only after they have dined, you have the permission to ask for their names, like King Menelaus did, "'Help yourselves to food, and welcome! Once you've dined we'll ask you who you are.'" (IV, 68-69) Many times before dining "...women had washed them, rubbed them down with oil and drawn warm fleece and shirts around their shoulders..." (IV, 56-57) If the host enjoyed the company of the guests, many times they will honor them with gifts.
For the well-to-do, eating during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods was a fancy affair. A king or queen when going abroad could expect banquet tables filled with hundreds of dishes--for just one meal! There was much pageantry and entertainment. At Leicester, Queen Elizabeth I (predecessor of King James VI & I) was greeted with a pageant of welcome displayed on a temporary bridge. There were cages of live birds--bitterns, curlews, hernshaws and godwits. One pillar held great silver bowls piled with apples, pears, cherries, walnuts and filberts. Other pillars held ears of wheat, oats and barley, gigantic bunches of red and white grapes, great livery pots of claret and white wine, sea fish in quantity laying upon fresh grass, and the last pillar was devoted to the arts. There were arms and music explained by a blue-clad poet.
... fashion on the top of the list and it'd be a crime not to keep up with the trend. The Renaissance did set the fashion for the rest of the world throughout the world and continuing centuries. Nowadays we can still see around us the trends from that time, it may not exactly look like it but we can still see the idea behind it. A couple similarities we see from a couple years ago would be the “Scarpin” the duck bill leather shoe which had jewels as such woven into the shoe atop, which favors the Crooks people wear today where it is bill-like and pieces of decoration can be placed atop of the shoe. Another trend from the time period seen today are the wigs made from peasant hair, which now a days (favored by women) it’s very common to get wigs, excitations, clip-on, etc. made with real hair. The Renaissance era was the birth of fashion and the urge to follow its rules.
There were people with faces that showed how that they were clueless on what to eat but when they saw people of the same culture through their dressing, they had the expression of happiness written all over them. It felt like they had found a sense of home just by discovering their culture food and those of the same culture. They immediately got their food and went to sit in the section where their culture was present. Women and Men in official clothing chose to dine at the Chinese and Italian section probably because the stand was of a more decorous setting than the other
The Renaissance was a time when people began to think and see things differently. It was a time for new innovations. People wanted to study the past and learn more about culture. People began to see important in human emotion, and they began to see that there was much more rather than just religion. Europe was facing many problems like the Black Death. But the problems caused a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. During the early 1400’s, Europe witnessed a major rebirth of fine art painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. Early Renaissance art had its birth of creativity and development in Florence, Italy, which eventually spread to Western Europe. Italy contained the status of being the richest trading nation with both Europe and the Orient, Italy was fortunate to be left with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. In almost every town and city, examples of Roman architecture and sculpture, including copies of sculptures from Ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The decline of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire caused many Greek scholars to go to Italy, bringing knowl...
I enter an exquisite room welcomed by a benevolent host. I glance around and see dining tables strategically set as if the queen were to be expected. White flowers with silver sparkles adorn the tables to add a final touch. The lights are dimmed low and classical music plays in the background to create a placid atmosphere. A savory aroma fills the room making me crave the chef’s fine platter. The host leads my party to a table and offers us drinks. As we wait for dinner to begin, murmurs fill the room with general conversation.