[Sca-cooks] Buffet?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach lilinah at earthlink.net:
>So, like, does anyone have any idea if there's a "period" word, in 
>any Western European language, that means sort of like what "buffet" 
>means today?

You might research [further, as in, don't take my word for it] the 
Elizabethan sideboard or banquette, which is literally a piece of 
furniture and, by extension, a bunch of foodstuffs served 
thereon/therefrom. This would normally involve sweets, fruits, both 
fresh and preserved, and light, palate-ey cleansers, that sort of 
thing, and might be set up at a dance or other similar, celebration, 
and as the name implies, off to one side of the room, to keep the 
center clear for other activity. Sources like Markham have pretty 
extensive instructions as to what kinds of things go on a banquette 
and how to set it up.

One of the logistical problems you're probably going to run across in 
trying to justify a buffet is some opposition to the idea that nobles 
should serve themselves, or walk around in search of food, under 
normal circumstances, and this opposition would come from the servers 
as well as the nobs. The buffet you're probably thinking of (with or 
without sneeze shield ;-)  ) is more an 18th-century thing, I think.

Adamantius