SC - Re: Course: was Sign-on Package?

[Elise Fleming]

Phlip wrote, in part:

>(snip) vs. the more Medieval/early period idea of making each
course or "remove" an entire meal in itself. 

A "remove" referred to two dishes...one (usually a soup) that was put 
in place and then "removed" and was replaced by another (frequently a 
roast or a fish).

>Our modern 12 course meals are simple in each chronological 
>presentation, and are expected to be finished in an hour or two- the 
>early "feasts" were an entire day's eating, separated frequently by 
>entertainments. I suspect this is the reason that early SCAdians
>used the term "remove" to differentiate between the two types of 
meals.

>From what I can determine, the 20 to 30 dishes in a course were not 
intended to be served to each person.  Some of the dishes were only for 
the "high table" or the most important guests.  Others served lower 
tables.  However, all the various dishes were listed for each course.  
Also, depending on the era, the diners did not pass the dishes; at 
least, they certainly didn't pass them very far.   Sometimes the dishes 
were expected to feed the two,four, or so people sitting in a 
particular area.  Other times it is implied that dishes were to be 
passed, at least a little way.  There is a period story of a naive 
young man come to the city.  He was faulted for gorging himself on the 
delicacy placed before him because he didn't know how to reach the 
other dishes.  Anyhow, people didn't appear to expect that they would 
get something of every type of food that was served.

>I suggest we look at the degeneration the term "banquet" has suffered 
>over the years, as a means of comparison. In its original usage, 
>"banquet" implied a feast similar to the multi-course meals we moderns 
>consider highly sophisticated. 

In the Elizabethan and Tudor years, the "banquet" was the final course 
of sweets, frequently served in a separate location from the dinner.  
This was often a special room or set of rooms called a "banquetting 
house".  There are banquetting houses on islands in  artificial lakes, 
and even a drawing of one up on a secluded roof.  There is a very good 
chapter about the evolution of "banquet" and "banquetting houses" in 
the book _'Banquetting Stuffe'_, edited by C. Anne Wilson.  My 
understanding is that the use of "banquet" for the sweet course 
predated our use of it as a feast of multi-course meals.

Alys Katharine
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