19th C. Dining Styles

“Godey’s Lady’s Book was the leading nineteenth-century magazine for American women and Virginia Campbell was a regular subscriber.” – Above, an antebellum, March 1859 edition of Godey’s illustrated the ideal table setting which was advised prior to the American Civil War, post-war restoration and the Gilded Age.

Until the early nineteenth century, dining in America was straightforward. Based on the English-style of two courses consisting of multiple items, the first course featured soup, fish, entrées, and joints; the second course included game, additional entrées, and some sweets. An optional third course of fruit and more sweets could follow in those households that had the means to provide them.

All the dishes were placed on the table at once and then cleared to accommodate the next course. This changed with the popularity of a la Francaise (French-style) dining and an emerging merchant class whose new wealth could afford both the new style and food to bring to the table.

French-style service broke the accepted two courses into four, placing fewer dishes on the table. Critics of the day rebuked the style as an indulgent display. In actuality the number of dishes primarily stayed the same. The main difference was order, spacing, and presentation, which gave the appearance of a larger, more elaborate meal.

The French-style course structure is generally divided into four courses: soups and fish in the first course; entrées, which were smaller meat dishes such as ragouts, followed in the second course; third course consisted of joints and entrées; while the fourth course comprised game, sweets, and a few more entrées. Finally, an optional dessert course could follow of fruit and more sweets. Course structure, according to Savarin, was an attempt to serve foods in relationship to each other that in turn would enhance the dining experience. In short, food and its service should have an order.

French service could be compared to a fanciful family style since the dishes placed on the table were designed for guests to serve themselves. If a dish required carving the guest closest to that item was expected to carve. One served themselves, filling their own plate. For dishes out of one’s reach either servants or fellow guests politely passed dishes. — From “The Gilded Table: Recipes and Table History from the Campbell House,” by Suzanne Corbett, 2015

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Royal Dining Etiquette History

When meals began to be served à la Russe, every guest was served with the same menu. The table should have been less cluttered, but flowers, lighting, decorations and expanded place settings with new items - such as fish knives and forks - soon filled the gaps.

Traditionally… even the grandest of banquets had been laid out on the table so that the guests could help themselves. Over the course of the eighteenth century, the layout had become an art form in its own right. It necessitated at least two tablecloths, both of which were laid on the table at the beginning of the meal. The cook would have planned how the dishes were to be displayed, balancing foods of different types with their colour and form both to achieve an attractive table layout and to offer each guest a variety of dishes. 

Of course, not everything by any means would be within reach of each guest. The options were for the guest to ask for a dish to be passed or to content him or herself with the dishes to hand. At a royal dinner, inhibitions were certainly greater than in a less formal situation. yet the variety of food on one's plate depended on cultivating a rapport with one's fellow diner, otherwise the meal might be very frugal indeed.

As one course ended, the dishes were removed and replaced by those for the next course. Until about the end of George IV's reign, sweet dishes were still included in the first and second courses. Large joints of meat would be carved at a sideboard and brought to the table. After the first two courses the top tablecloth was removed and the dessert, arranged with artistry, served on the clean cloth. Sculptures in sugar and ice fitted perfectly into this mode of service, known as service à la française, and fruit was often displayed in a silver epergne or in pierced and patterned silver bowls or trays.

One can immediately see the advantages and pitfalls of such a manner of serving. In its favour, the food is seen as being plentiful and beautifully presented; in theory guests can help themselves to whatever and however much they want; and it encourages conversation among guests. But there is little room on the table for anything but food; you may very much want a dish but not have access to it; and since all the food for each course has to be served at the same time, hot dishes are likely to be eaten lukewarm.

From the mid-nineteenth century, service à la russe was gradually adopted in large establishments, including the court, and it is still in general use today. – From “At the King’s Table,” by Susanne Groom

 Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia