Bon Appétit – How to Set a Dinner Table

Summer 2020 was a quiet affair — lacking all the traditional hallmarks of the busiest entertaining season. Weddings were rescheduled and Dinner Parties were placed on hold as we all sheltered in place and stayed safer at home. Thankfully, the national vaccine roll-out is now well under way, with more than 247 million doses administered across the country. Today, over 32% of our population fully vaccinated. Now that all Americans over 18 are eligible for the vaccine, the Biden administration estimates we will be close to normal by Independence Day. After a year of smiling through masks and waving from six feet away, we have a lot of lost time to make up for! No matter your party plans for this summer, the first step in designing a stunning event is perfecting the tablescape. From casual al fresco dining to elegant indoor entertaining, creating the perfect tablescape goes a long way towards setting the mood for your event. Follow below for our tips on how to set a dinner table properly — whether for an intimate date night or a big backyard barbecue.

A Quick History of Dinner Parties: Table Setting Through the Ages

.   ROMAN   CONVIVIUM   .

Historians and laypeople alike still marvel at the banquets of Rome — despite the fact that most occurred way back in the 1st century BCE. Historian Katharine Raff describes the menu and the culture of these ancient dinner parties in her paper “The Roman Banquet.” Her paper is part of The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays. Not only is Raff’s paper a fun read, but several tableware artifacts grace the header of her essay. Raff writes that Roman banquets — also called “convivium” — were extremely varied. They might be intimate or grand — entertaining a small group or “all the inhabitants of a city.” The most famous of Roman convivium, however, are not the public parties but the lavish “elite private banquets.” These banquets are described by Raff and contemporary sources as a kind of feast for the senses. During these parties, the host strove to impress his guests “with extravagant fare, luxurious tableware, and…entertainment.” 

Some of the most expensive but popular foods included “raw oysters, lobster, shellfish, venison, wild boar, and peacock.” Of course, such an exhaustive and expensive meal “required an elaborate table service.” This table service comprised “numerous vessels and utensils that were designed to serve both functional and decorative purposes.” Goblets like these silver scyphi with relief decoration from the Met’s collection were prominently featured. They could be found alongside pieces made from “gold, bronze, or semi-precious stones [like] rock crystal, agate, and onyx.” The decor was impressive too. Each course was “enjoyed in a lavishly adorned setting” which included “floor mosaics, wall paintings and stucco reliefs.” Above is a reimagined Roman banquet, painted by Roberto Bompiani in the late 19th century.

.   RENAISSANCE   BANQUETS   .

Nearly fifteen hundred years later, the true banquet was born. On the heels of devastation wrought by the bubonic plague, Western Europe enjoyed a period of relative bounty. Though banquets began in fourteenth century Europe as religious observances, they evolved to celebrate anything from weddings to court gatherings. Intricately curated meals, exquisitely crafted tableware and elaborate decor were all hallmarks of Italian Renaissance feasts. Nancy Delucia Real explains in her post “How to Eat Like a Renaissance Courtier” for the Getty Center’s blog. 

To put it plainly, writes Real, “Italians were the trendsetters of European Renaissance dining.” In the 16th century, Italian aristocrats threw “enormous banquets with 500 to 750 courtiers in attendance.” The hosts commissioning brand-new tableware for each occasion. In fact, the Marchesa of Mantua Isabella d’Este, ”commissioned a set of…maiolica plates from artist Nicola da Urbino” for just one party. Courtiers ate buffet style at a long banquet table. They gobbled up heavily spiced foods “with two-tined forks” and drank local wine “from crystal glasses made in Murano.” Aristocrats of 16th century Italy were the first to pioneer wine pairings — a practice that soon became popular across Europe. Though Paolo Veronese’s 16h century painting The Wedding at Cana describes Christ turning water into wine, it accurately depicts a Renaissance banquet. 

.   VICTORIAN   ERA   DINING   .

Victorian dinner parties were quite a bit more complex and formal than those of 16th century Italy or Ancient Rome. According to “The etiquette for Victorian dining” from the Grim’s Dyke Hotel in London, the tables of Victorian dinner parties were elegant and understated. This matched austere attitudes of the time. Unlike the Ancient Romans or Renaissance Europeans, the Victorian English and Americans preferred a natural setting without any garishness. Formal table setting of the Victorian era greatly resembled that of today’s formal dinner parties. Each included “a plate, two large knives, three large forks, a soup spoon, and a water goblet.”

When serving soup, salad or bread, a “small plate would be placed to the top left of the main plate.” Decorative elements included branches, flowers, candlesticks, “place settings and name cards.” They also mandated “the cleanest china and shiniest cutlery” as well as “fruit plates…in the center of the table.” Guests could not serve themselves and were advised not to speak either well or ill of the food during dinner. View above one modern recreation of a Victorian high tea in the dining room of Muncaster Castle in Ravenglass, Cumbria England.

.   SALONNIERES   OF   PRE   WAR   PARIS   .

Contemporaries across early 20th century Europe and the Americas hosted similar salons. However, dinner parties of Gertrude Stein and her wife Alice Toklas were second to none. As the Brooklyn Museum’s profile on Stein recalls, the pair often “hosted an eccentric salon at their home in Paris.” Together, they entertained “friends Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Georges Braque…[and[Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway.” Less important to Stein and her guests was the presentation of each dinner as was the food and conversation. 

In her paper “Salons of Paris, Then and Now,” Rachel Hope Cleves writes about Toklas’ role. She notes that “Alice B. Toklas paid [enormous] attention to what she served to eat.” So much so, that when she wrote her autobiography, “her first attempt came out as a cookbook.” Writers, artists, collectors and other visionaries gathered around the Toklas-Stein table. It was crowded with “huge platters of chicken, ham, roast beef, and cucumber sandwiches.” Dessert was often “mountains of chocolate cakes, meringues, éclairs, strawberry tarts, and cheese twists.” Wine and champagne “flowed generously” during every salon dinner. 

.   MID-CENTURY   BACKYARD   BARBECUES   .

Today’s dinner parties involve everything from crystalline banquets to park picnics. However, perhaps no American mid-summer tradition is quite as beloved as the backyard barbecue. According to the Smithsonian Institute, today’s burger and beer lovers have post-war tourists to thank for the tradition. The Smithsonian post “Backyard Cookout” notes that “after World War II, newly affluent Americans had the means and desire to travel.” Many found their way to South America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands as well as more local destinations like Mexico and Hawaii. 

Returning home, 1950s Americans wanted to keep the spirit of casual island life alive. As such, travelers “re-created these experiences in their new suburban backyards.” With tropical drinks in hand, “they cooked meals craved by a postwar meat-mad America.” Tiki glasses, plastic flamingos and a variety of yard games all emerged as Americans spent more time grilling outdoors. 

Why Dinner Parties Matter: The Social Science of Eating Together

Though a curated meal and incredible vintage certainly leave an impression, nothing makes a meal quite like sharing it with another person. According to researchers, eating together actually has psychological and emotional benefits. Social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam explains in “Why Eating The Same Food Increases People’s Trust And Cooperation” for NPR’s Morning Edition