Christmas Dinner with Shakespeare by Francine Segan Interestingly many of our traditional holiday foods actually come from Shakespeare's time. Dishes like roast goose with oyster stuffing, plum pudding, gingerbread houses, and even apple pie are all actually English inventions from the Renaissance brought over by the Pilgrims who settled in Jamestown and Plymouth. The Elizabethans' Christmas celebrations lasted through Twelfth-day. Not only recipes, but also many dining customs came to America with the first English settlers and date to Shakespeare's time. Our etiquette of not putting our elbows on the table for example comes from those days when a table was nothing more than a board set onto wobbly saw horses. Putting your elbows on the table was discouraged for the very practical reason that the table could topple. If you were invited to a nobleman's feast you would enter the great hall of his manor at about 11:00 am, time of the main meal of the day. A servant would offer you a basin with flowered and scented water to wash your hands. A different servant checking a chart marked with your name escorts you to your assigned seat. Seating arrangement is by social position and very carefully organized. Social position also determines what the guests will eat and not all guests are served the same foods. The more costly dishes, such as roast swan or peacock, go to the higher-class guests. Guests of lower rank are seated "below the salt," fairly far from the expensive salt and fancy saltcellars. The long table would be covered in a white linen cloth. At your place would be laid a knife, spoon, round roll, and wooden plate all covered by a large napkin, which you'll use later to take home leftovers. There would be no fork, however. This medieval invention from the Middle East, in use in Italy since the 10th century, did not become popular in England until almost 100 years after Shakespeare's death. All the food, even the carved roasts, would be served in pieces small enough to handle with the knife tip or fingers. In the mid-1600s upon first hearing that the Italians ate with forks the English were appalled, thinking that the use of forks signified that the Italians' fingers were too dirty to touch the food! A drinking vessel would be another item missing from your place. Guests would share, flagging a servant when they became thirsty. The servant would take a cup from a side table and fill it with wine. When the guest drank his fill, the cup would be taken back and rinsed in a wooden basin for the next guest's use. Interestingly, clinking glasses during a toast comes from Shakespeare's day. Knights and nobles from different kingdoms banged metal, wood, or even leather drinking glasses hard enough for the liquid in the vessels to slosh out and mix together, assuring the men that they were drinking the same drink and therefore neither was poisoning the other. Dipping pieces of tasted bread slices into wine dates from the Middle Ages and continued into Shakespeare's day. It's where we get the expression to "drink a toast." Ceremonial trumpeting would announce the first course. You'd be treated to three courses in all. The first consists of foods such as soups stuffed eggs, fried oysters, small meat tarts, and salads. The second course would include a variety of roast meats and fowl all served with sweet and savory side dishes. Last, you'd be served cheese, crackers, and fruit. Sugar was very expensive back then, so sweet desserts were reserved for only a select few guests and served away from the main table. In addition to knowing their place and staying in it, all guests, including women, had a responsibility to be amusing. Back in the Renaissance there were many books published on etiquette with tips on how to be a good guest. Entire chapters were devoted to how to tell jokes, riddles, and stories during a feast. The host too would be expected to provide entertainments for the guests hiring jugglers, musicians, and even actors to recite ancient Roman and Greek poetry, or perform plays. So, while no one will be blowing a trumpet when you bring out the latkes or the Christmas goose this year, you can at least be assured of sitting where you want and drinking out of your own glass! Raise it to toast to a wonderful, albeit modern, New Year.
	©2006 Francine Segan. All rights reserved.