The Rich Man's Feast

There is so much to research and understand about history! The plight of the poor man has been a focus on the channel for a while, but what about the rich? What is a feast to a rich man in the 18th century?

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[TsukiToHotaru]

The cover with a plate full of coins is so hilarious.

[davea]

18th century: A rich man can afford a pineapple 🍍, a poor man can afford a salmon 🐟.
21st century: A rich man can afford a salmon 🐟, a poor man can afford a pineapple 🍍.

[jecny]

Just as an FYI; George III was not a typical 18th century monarch. Obviously he was the King, so he lived better than 99.99% of his subjects. But by the standards of that era, he was actually pretty laid back. He preferred plain food, plain dress and a (relative for the time) informal royal court. His court was nothing like that of his contemporaries Louis XVI at Versailles, Catherine II in Russia or even the more minor monarchies that dotted the map of 18th century Europe. His subjects called him "Farmer George" because of his fondness for a simple country life and aversion to ostentatious ceremony and court etiquette. Completely contrary to the norms for royalty of the period, George spent as little money as he decently could, signed far more pardons than death sentences, loved his wife and doted on his children (some of whom turned into spoiled brats). His eventual decline into debilitating mental illness in an age when that was not understood, was a cruel fate for a generally kind and well intentioned monarch.

[meganlalli]

For the rich man's feast, I half expected to see Jon dressed in fancy clothes (as in the thumbnail), sested at a table with at least one person in the background serving or clearing away the plate after each food was sampled.

Having worked in a ritzy hotel's dining room as a waitress, I can tell you a whole army of chefs, sous chefs, cooks, and other prep people were involved.

[thCenturyManTrad]

George the Third was often called farmer George because of his sympathies with common folk, and his work in trying to develop farming methods to make farming more profitable.

[robertpearson]

As a guide at a historic house once told me, people in those days had fewer ways of showing off their wealth and prosperity than they do now. There were no high-end cars, private yachts or private jets to spend money on. Opulent estates, clothing and food and entertaining were a good way to show your social and economic status.

[mrleedra]

2:44 It is perhaps worth noting that George III was known as a fairly frugal man with modest tastes and a tendency to relatively informal habits in his private life. Perhaps this might partially explain why this list is filled with fairly common items.

[kevting]

Interesting that the wearisome of the extravagant rich man's feast can cross cultural oceans. Around the same time in 18th cent Qing China, Chinese poet Yuan Mei noted that the ruling Manchu dynasty held feasts that "at the start of the feast the menu is about a hundred feet long". He noted that this is "mere display, not gastronomy". After such dinner, Yuan would returned home and cooked congee to fill his hunger.

[itsamindgame]

The clearing of the table between courses WAS dessert. Having something light and palate-cleansing was incorporated into that.

[patriciahoffmann]

I'm so glad you did this episode; it explains why my Mother-in-Law, who grew up poor on a tobacco farm in the South during the Depression, would be so proud of providing for special company 9 different vegetable dishes (plus the main dishes) for her table.

[donny]

Ah yes my favourite dish. A piece of eight.

[paulw]

Making capons is not an easy feat. I have castrated cattle and hogs, but chickens are difficult. My grandfather and his father knew how to do it. During the depression, my grandfather was a glassblower and did not have job worries. He did open his house for family that did not have that security. A small 3 bedroom house had 3 generations and 13-16 people living there. He fed them a lot of capons as people were raising chickens, but you cannot have a lot of roosters around. So, people would bring male chicks to my grandfather and his cost was 1/2 the capons. They would castrate them, and you got x/2 and he kept that. We had a Capon often while he was alive as he still knew how to do it. Now they cost $80-120, truly a rich man''s feast

[briannawalker]

As a Georgian enthusiast, it's so nice to see someone really dig into the difference between Russian service and French service!

[Low_Budget_High_Desert]

That dessert fountain description made me feel peasant-poor, hundreds of years down the line watching this video on a $3200 computer lol.

[philbateman]

I once had dinner in the House of Lords here in the UK (I'm not a politician, I was there as a guest of someone who ran a successful charity), and there were a whole lot of courses, but all your food was brought to you on individual plates. A member of the house I got chatting to did say that historically, the food wouldn't have been served to people individually, but laid on the table for people to take for their plate since it prevented the opportunity for targeted poisonings to happen. If you poisoned a dish, everyone would have an equal chance of falling victim to it.

[karentruempy]

Jon holding down his excitement about 5 pounds of nutmeg was funny, but I about lost it when he mentioned the sea man in a boating the fountain! "Row, row, row your boat, gently round the wine!! Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily what a grand old time!!!😂😂

[louel]

The book "The Count of Monte Cristo" (chapter 63) offers a view of the repast of the wealthy and a glimpse of the thinking behind the food served

[sizer]

Jon's reaction after biting into that that tart was *exactly* like Max Miller when something turns out good 😆

[simeongalda]

Finally feast that Jon Townsend deserves.

[VanisLim]

It is amazing how the traditional 18th centuries western feast closely resembling the southern chinese fancy dining we still have in hong kong, malaysian chinese, and singapore chinese high-end restaurant now. Often time in business dinner, weddings or celebration feasts, we will be sitting at a round table for 8 to 10 persons, with a smaller rotatable round platform in the middle of the table for all the foods, often 6 ~ 12 courses, and have our own small plates and bowls. Throughout the whole meal, there will be new foods served, and our plates changed a few times. There will also be ingredients like dried abalone, sea cucumber and stocks that require up to a week of preparations.