The Evolution of Western table Manners from France

The dining table has long played an important role in French families. The dinner table is not only a place to eat, it also represents a good time for emotional exchange among family members and close friends. The table is not only filled with mouthwatering food, but also with traditions and culture. Modern French people will use their own cutlery at the table and eat the food on their plate, however, this style of dining is not ancient. How did the French eat before the separate dining system? Where did the tradition of the French table come from? Where is the origin of table manners?

Ancient Greeks and Romans eating while lying down.

The concept of banqueting has existed since ancient times. People often gather around and communicate while eating. The custom of holding banquets began during this period.

Ancient Greek feasts were divided into two parts: eating and drinking. At the feasting, people eat animals that have been killed especially for the occasion, which can be sheep, goats, cows, or even pigs, depending on which god they want to sacrifice to. The ancient Greeks ate while lying down because doctors believed this position could better aid digestion. The party is more symbolic and is called a “symposium”. At the party, the men decide together what wine they want to drink and how much water to put in it. In ancient times, wine was so thick that it had to be mixed with water to increase its fluidity. Adding water also serves the purpose of diluting the alcohol level so that guests do not get drunk.

Ancient Greeks were usually very careful about what they ate, and staying in good shape was very important at that time. The doctor’s recommended four meals a day met this aesthetic need, each light and nutritious, in keeping with the physical consumption of the Greeks. The first meal of the day is a cold meal, whether eaten alone or with the family, eaten at home and standing. The second meal, between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m., is eaten outside, with food bought from the street store. The second meal, from 2pm to 4pm, is a cold meal consisting mainly of fruit. The last and most important meal is the evening feast.

At that time there were no plates, no cups, no cutlery, no concept of individuality, all utensils were shared.

For the ancient Romans, feasts were also important moments in social life. The dining patterns of the ancient Romans were more in line with those of modern people — three meals a day, with the main meal consisting of three courses. Breakfast consists of fruit, cheese, vegetables and honey and is eaten at home. Lunch was eaten outside, with cooked meat in addition to fruit, cheese, vegetables and honey. Dinner is a family meal, divided into three courses, starting with small dishes, followed by a main course that includes meat, and finishing with fruit products.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were experts in producing fine pottery, as can be seen in the famous Attica ceramics, which gave their table decorations a certain sense of luxury. The ancient Romans also began to make glass.

The ancient Romans and Gaul had learned to make bread, and whole bakeries had sprung up in Pompeii, Italy. The Gauls were famous for their skill in preparing cooked pork, but the poor had to eat what was produced in the fields on hides. The Gauls cut a concave hole in the table and used it as a dinner plate. The rich also began to use pottery, bronze and brass products, and knives were carried around as personal items. Gallic people are very hospitable, no matter who they meet will take the initiative to invite each other to dinner in their home. If they accept, they drink kirsch with the host. Perhaps the origin of aperitif began at this time.

Medieval: A makeshift dining table.

The French tend to divide the Middle Ages into two periods, the first from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 to the accession of Huge Cappe in 987.

This was a time when the table changed dramatically, it became very religious, and the table cloth was born. The table cloth served a dual purpose: to cover the supports that served as the legs of the table, as well as to allow diners to wipe their hands and mouths (before napkins existed), and symbolically — the whiteness of the table was a symbol of purity, reminiscent of an altar tablecloth.

In the Middle Ages there were no dining rooms, no special rooms for eating, tables were removable and detachable. Before eating, you need to set up the table. First, put the counter on the support, and then put the cuboid stool next to it. The stool is shaped to make it easier to arrange. Eating rooms will be chosen according to light and temperature, in the winter in a room with a stove and in the summer in a room with good ventilation. The tables were round and people tried to show a sense of equality at the table.

The tableware of this period is still not personal. People sitting next to each other shared food on slices of bread that served as plates. There were many kinds of containers for drinking, but they were all very simple and crude, either terracotta or coarsely terra cotta, and the shape was closer to that of a soup bowl. Table knives first appeared during the Carolingian period, but they were not used for cutting food, as all food was pre-cut in the kitchen. A small, straight knife, much like today’s oyster knife, was used to decorate food. Another long, curved knife, much like the modern cheese knife, was used for taking food that was placed in the middle of the table.

The second period of the Middle Ages was from 987 to 1492 when Columbus discovered America. With the establishment of feudalism, great inequality appeared in French society, and this social feature was also reflected in the dinner table.

From this period, the table became a rectangle and was rearranged in the shape of a U. But in contrast to the Romans, the table at this time established the status of inequality, defined the sense of hierarchy. The top table will be raised slightly, and will be reserved for the person of higher status. The most important person will sit in the center of the table when eating, and the food will be placed in front of him, and he will have easier access to it. Instead, the least important person is placed at the very end of the table, without access to their own food. The food will probably be gone or cold by the time it gets to him. When table manners are set, the concept of sharing ceases to exist.

Hierarchy is also emphasized in the seats. On the low table, the seating is unchanged and remains a bench, footstool, or bench, without backrest or armrest. On the raised tables came chairs with backs and armrests, the height of which depended on the social status of the occupant. Sometimes a canopy can be seen on the back of the host and hostess.

Table attendants are also affected by the social hierarchy and have status divisions. The highest rank is Director of food and beverage, a title filled with honor and prestige. The butler of food was also an aristocrat, and he always had a cloth draped over his arm and was responsible for directing the dishes. Below the steward is the butcher’s squire, who cuts dishes that are not prepared in the kitchen. Next came the sommelier, who was in charge of tasting the wine, then the master of wine, who was in charge of bringing the wine from the cellar, and below that, the master of wine, whose role was to pour the wine at the table. By this time there was a full table service team.

Two typical items in medieval tableware were made of precious metals and precious stones. The first is a goblet with a lid. The lid of the goblet was locked with a lock and opened during the meal to avoid being poisoned. The second is the Treasure Ship. This is a vessel in the shape of a Crusader warship, also with a lock, for the same reason. Inside the treasure boat were salt, spices, knives and spoons.

In the late Middle Ages, when people held banquets, elaborate rituals were performed and resources were invested to ensure that the food on the plate was the most luxurious. The description of the elaborate public feasts of the Dukes of Burgundy by the poet Olivier de la Marcy, knight of the Duchy of Burgundy in the Middle Ages, offers a glimpse into the dining rituals of the time: After the table is set and covered with a tablecloth, the butler brings into the dining room a large treasure boat containing silver plates (for slices of bread and food on top), salt, and a small treasure boat. There was also a “unicorn horn” used to test the Duke’s food. The juice and other sauces are then brought by the saucer and arranged by the caterer. The caterer will stand before the treasure ship and serve the Duke. At lunch (which was considered the main meal) he served the duke twice, twelve or thirteen plates each time, while at supper he served only once. The caterer used his knife to scrape a small piece of salt from the great block for the Duke to take at any time.

The butcher’s courtier also stood at the prince’s table, and when all the dishes had been served, the courtier lifted the covers and laid them out in turn before the prince. He had to think carefully about the order of dishes: potage before the main course, eggs before the fish. The courtiers put the boiled meat and roast meat into the treasure boat. After this, the treasure boat was lifted up by the courtier and the food was distributed among the people. The table cloth had now been removed, and the wine was on the table, with delicate little plates of spices.

Renaissance: The Birth of table Manners and the unpopular Fork.

By the Renaissance, the dinner party of the upper class had evolved into a curious spectacle in which everyone would throw catering parties to demonstrate their status. People bathe and clean themselves before eating. People of high status could bathe first, and when they were finished, it was the turn of people of low status to bathe.

The courtier was responsible for cutting the meat into small pieces on the plate. Each guest twisted a piece of meat with three fingers and placed it on a prized cutting board or a piece of bread that served as a plate. They nibbled at the meat, and the slices of bread soaked with meat were not the food of the guests, who would eventually be given to the servants. The table manners of this period were very similar to those of the Middle Ages. On the sideboard behind the dining table are rows of tiny bottles, goblets with LIDS and other containers for drinking water.

Single seating replaced medieval benches, spices were always placed in the middle of the table, and the order in which dishes were served was changed: fruit first, stew or roast, and dessert at the end.

The Renaissance in France was in the 16th century, from Louis XII to Henry III. The Loire Valley of this period was the equivalent of the Cote d ‘Azur of the Valois dynasty, once under the rule of Catalina de Medici. Catalina de Medici was the queen of Henry II and played a great role in promoting the development of French culture and art. During this period, the advent of printing made cookbooks, diet advice manuals, and food philosophy books widely available. In 1530, Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutch philosopher and leading exponent of the European humanist movement, published a book called The Handbook of Proper Manners for Children, an instruction manual on “proper behavior for boys” that incorporated table manners from elite classes throughout Europe. In less than a decade, the book was translated from Latin into English, French, German and Czech and became a code of dining-room behaviour throughout Europe. Table manners also began to appear in the European aristocracy around this time.

A number of similar table manners guides have sprung up in an attempt to shift the focus from food to etiquette. The works point out that it is rude to openly express hunger, and instruct people on how to eat together and have “table conversations.” Erasmus advised, “It is neither polite nor safe to speak with food in your mouth. People have to tell stories to break up the feeding”.

The birth of French table manners can be traced back to the Renaissance courts of Kings. The French court was the first court in Europe to provide social status for women. When the king left the court to go to war, the royal power was maintained by the women in the court through participating in political life and social banquets.

Under the influence of Catalina de Medici, designated table and banquet tableware such as kettles, candy boxes, and plates made of gold and silver were also introduced. According to Elisabeth Latlimolier, director of the Royal Castle Museum in Brois, “there are so many elements that make eating dramatic”.

Columbus’s discovery of the New World changed the idea of the French. The table lost its sacredness and the table cloth lost its religious dimension. Its purpose was no longer to cover the table, so its use was greatly reduced, leading to the popularity of napkins.

Napkins were brought to France from Italy by the Medici family. Plates also began to appear more and more during this period, initially of metal, ceramic or painted pottery, and soon porcelain became an upper-class obsession, especially from China, which was the only country that knew how to make hard porcelain. Processed crystal glasses appeared, but there was no place for them on the table, for a plate of food was placed in the centre of the table, and a tall glass in front of it would hinder access to food.

Caterina de Medici brought forks, fine pottery and glassware from Italy to France, but the French continued to eat with their hands.

The fork was first recorded in Italy in the 14th century and was a rarity in medieval Europe, where it was used mainly for sticky sweets and preserves. Spoons were everyday cutlery, every farmer with a lot of money had a silver spoon, and knives were mostly for decoration. Despite its usefulness, the fork was frowned upon at the dinner table, as its use was seen as lacking in masculinity and showing weakness. It wasn’t until the 16th and 17th centuries that forks became a regular feature of elite dining tables. Louis XIV expressed great disapproval even when his grandchildren began to use forks.

The use of glasses at the table was in vogue at the time, as evidenced by the advice given by Erasmus in his Handbook of Proper Manners for Children, which devoted a few lines to how to “drink good wine”.

Today it is customary for each guest at the table to have his or her own glass, but this was not the case in the 16th century, when the same glass of wine might be shared by two or three guests, or even the whole table. Erasmus therefore advised the reader: “Before drinking, empty your mouth, and do not approach the cup before wiping your lips with a towel or handkerchief, especially if one of the guests is offering you a cup of his own”.

By the late 16th century, table manners had changed somewhat, and it became more common for the number of glasses to equal the number of guests. The French humanist writer Montaigne mentioned in his essays that he preferred to drink in his own glass, but he saw this preference less as a general custom than as a display of elegance.

The cups were not placed on the table permanently, but were brought by servants at the request of the guests. As soon as the cup was empty, the servant would remove it and place it on the dining-room table away from the main table.

Louis XIV saw French cuisine as a badge of honor, a way to show off the power of his rule. He also saw the table not only as a place to eat, but also as a tool for governing, making decisions and reflecting on domestic politics and foreign strategy. For Louis XIV, this table contained all the conditions that would allow him to make important decisions.

As a result, the dining table was no longer a simple wooden table. It became a real piece of furniture, decorated from the foot to the top of the table, which was sometimes even carved with maps so that the generals could plan military strategies while eating. Tables were no longer temporary and mobile, though the concept of a restaurant had not yet emerged.

It was not until the 19th century, when the bourgeoisie, rich from trade and industry and with servants, took the initiative to carve out a room in the house dedicated to eating that the “dining room” was truly born.