[Sca-cooks] Buffet?

[Johnna Holloway]

My thought on this is that it also started with the furniture and
then went to the food placed on the furniture and then went
to being a style of service or dining where one went and got one's
food off the furniture. (I obviously need more pepsi this am. I micrograted
one finger last evening so I am typing with a band aid in place this am
too.)

OED--
Buffet is a blow or strike (blind man's buff) or as a verb to beat back;
a hassock or stool;
A sideboard or side-table, often ornamental, for the disposition of
china, plate, etc
which is 1718 for the earliest quotation. Or A cupboard in a recess for
china and glasses.
which is 1720 for the earliest quotation. and a refreshment bar which is
1792.

Sideboard is much older--

A table (esp. for taking meals at) placed towards the side of a room,
hall, etc.

    * 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1398 Þenne was alle þe halle flor hiled
      with knytes, & barounes at þe side-bordes bounet ay-where;

By the 17th century this is mentioned--
1679 Hist. of Jetzer Pref. A b, They saw him every day..Dine at a
Side-board Table by himself.

Sideboard might work well as a term.  (Buffet might be better understood 
by those
that aren't into the terminology of this all.)

Johnnae


Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> 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. snipped
> 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
>