My character is standing beside the refreshments table at a ball and she's just picked up a piece of food... tragically, I don't know what sort of food that might be. Something better than Almack's nasty biscuits... but what?
Regency nibbles
- Thread starter Hex
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If she's at a Regency ball there is a good chance she doesn't pick up something from the table and eat it. It would depend to some extent on the circumstances, but in most cases I believe she would have to wait for a gentleman to offer to bring her refreshments, and then she would eat whatever he decided to bring her. If he was a true gentleman he might choose carefully and perhaps come back with a plate containing a variety of things, in the hopes that something there would suit her. If she was unlucky, he would be one of those fellows who think they know what ladies want (because all women want the same thing, right?) or at any rate what they ought to have.
Are you thinking something that would be finger-food (like biscuits, or slices of bread and butter, for instance) or something she would eat with a fork?
At tea time, I don't believe people served themselves. The hostess, or a female family member designated by her, would pour, and someone else would pass around. Servants, or family members, might pass around sandwiches, etc.
Tea might be served at a ball, although I doubt it, because dancing is hot work and ballrooms are overheated. If it was, it would be another one of those refreshments someone would probably have to fetch for her.
I imagine that wallflowers spent a lot of time hungry and thirsty.
Are you thinking something that would be finger-food (like biscuits, or slices of bread and butter, for instance) or something she would eat with a fork?
At tea time, I don't believe people served themselves. The hostess, or a female family member designated by her, would pour, and someone else would pass around. Servants, or family members, might pass around sandwiches, etc.
Tea might be served at a ball, although I doubt it, because dancing is hot work and ballrooms are overheated. If it was, it would be another one of those refreshments someone would probably have to fetch for her.
I imagine that wallflowers spent a lot of time hungry and thirsty.
I've got a memory of people sitting down to eat in a separate room, not standing around eating, but I can't for the moment pinpoint where that's coming from.
Meanwhile, if you can get this out the library it might be of help, JANE AUSTEN AND FOOD: Amazon.co.uk: Maggie Lane: 9781852851248: Books and here's an article which covers the Austen ground quickly, but no references to a ball, unfortunately Pride and partridges: Jane Austen and food
Meanwhile, if you can get this out the library it might be of help, JANE AUSTEN AND FOOD: Amazon.co.uk: Maggie Lane: 9781852851248: Books and here's an article which covers the Austen ground quickly, but no references to a ball, unfortunately Pride and partridges: Jane Austen and food
I remember this titbit from a secondary school trip to the Georgian house, No 7 Charlotte square in Edinburgh new town (built 1796, so close enough). It's run as a museum by the national trust - at least it was in the mid 1980s 
Anyway they served what we were told was the height of delicacies at the time which were raw dough balls (yes it was just flour and water) with a thick dollop of icing on top. I remember this because one boy in our class took a big bite then spat it out onto the floor
Actually if its open to the public still might be a good place to go and get a bit of inspiration?
Just checked Georgian House : Opening Times (okay £7.50 a wee bit steep)
Anyway they served what we were told was the height of delicacies at the time which were raw dough balls (yes it was just flour and water) with a thick dollop of icing on top. I remember this because one boy in our class took a big bite then spat it out onto the floor
Actually if its open to the public still might be a good place to go and get a bit of inspiration?
Just checked Georgian House : Opening Times (okay £7.50 a wee bit steep
)
I happen to own a copy of Routledge's Manual of Etiquette, published in 1860. The section entitles 'Ball-Room Guide' says the following:
- a room should be set aside for refreshments and kept amply supplied with coffee, lemonade, ices, wine and biscuits during the evening. Where this cannot be arranged, the refreshments should be handed round between the dances.
- supper might or might not be served, depending on the $ means of the hosts. The book doesn't say much about what this 'supper' should be, just that it should be abundant (because "Dancers are generally hungry people"), and it mentions sandwiches.
- by 'ball' they mean both a public ball and a private party at which there is dancing.
Hope that helps! (And I love Teresa's info!!)
- a room should be set aside for refreshments and kept amply supplied with coffee, lemonade, ices, wine and biscuits during the evening. Where this cannot be arranged, the refreshments should be handed round between the dances.
- supper might or might not be served, depending on the $ means of the hosts. The book doesn't say much about what this 'supper' should be, just that it should be abundant (because "Dancers are generally hungry people"), and it mentions sandwiches.
- by 'ball' they mean both a public ball and a private party at which there is dancing.
Hope that helps! (And I love Teresa's info!!)
I've found at least one passage confirming my memory, from P&P. At the Netherfield Ball, they sit down to supper between two sessions of dancing, and when Mrs Bennett finally shuts up Lady Lucas "was left to the comforts of cold ham and chicken". I've another mental image of a young woman seeking an older one who is already at table, though, which I can't place.
The Netherfield Ball is a private one, of course, which is likely to have been different from a public ball. The one in P&P passes without mention of food as far as I can see.
The Netherfield Ball is a private one, of course, which is likely to have been different from a public ball. The one in P&P passes without mention of food as far as I can see.
Very interesting! I would have slipped up had I decided to include my ballroom scene in SG.
pH
pH
I think balls were always private—although the guest list might run into the hundreds—and a public entertainment of the same sort would be an assembly. Some assemblies were open to anyone who could afford tickets (or a subscription) and were probably more informal than a ball of comparable size at someone's house. But then there were the assemblies at Almack's, which by the time of the Regency and the patronesses who were such high sticklers and such snobs about who they gave vouchers to, became extremely exclusive.
And, yes, at a ball of any distinction there would be a supper. The set before supper was the supper-dance, and a lady's partner for that dance escorted her into supper and sat with her. But people who had not been dancing could enter the supper room and sit at the tables there with the rest.
And, yes, at a ball of any distinction there would be a supper. The set before supper was the supper-dance, and a lady's partner for that dance escorted her into supper and sat with her. But people who had not been dancing could enter the supper room and sit at the tables there with the rest.
You guys are amazing. Thank you. It sounds like I would be safest having her gentleman friend provide her with a plate of something before he goes off to dance with her sister.
I'll see if I can find that book, TJ. It sounds like just the kind of thing I'm after.
The Georgian House is a brilliant idea, VB. I have a National Trust membership so no £7.50. I have warned the boys they will be Educated next week (it will make a pleasant change from Bannockburn which is obsessing S just now -- ask me anything about how the Bruce used schiltrons...)
I'll see if I can find that book, TJ. It sounds like just the kind of thing I'm after.
The Georgian House is a brilliant idea, VB. I have a National Trust membership so no £7.50. I have warned the boys they will be Educated next week (it will make a pleasant change from Bannockburn which is obsessing S just now -- ask me anything about how the Bruce used schiltrons...)
Susan Boulton
The storyteller
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Hex, just out of interest the BBC are doing a series about, " Royal recipes". Had a few regency ones. It is a bit bowing and scraping to the royals, but from a research point of view it is quite good. Should be on BBC Iplayer.
And use it on a daily basis, presumably? I have an old copy of Debretts myself. Somewhere--
I had to Google that one.
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