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 🍍.
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.
I love history - this is a great read out for him. Do you have any sources, if you don’t, that’s fine. I’m not doubting you, but it would great to be able back naysayers with this.
@@zandernewson9933 Frank O'Gorman's "The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832" is an absolutely fantastic book on Britain in the time period and covers all 4 Georgian monarchs, their politics, their personalities and their public images very well, as well as a host of other topics like country life, changing manners, religious practices and the wars of the time. Very highly recommended. I don't know of a good biography on George III off the top of my head but I'm sure there are plenty. I don't have any recommendations for primary sources off the top of my head either, but O'Gorman is generally good at using them and referencing them to the reader. Happy reading!
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.
To this very day there are fancy restaurants that serve things that are just for showing off wealth. There is a restaurant in Stockholm serving things like cooked spruce twigs for $200...Although I would rather be a billionaire than on a meager disability pension as I am now, I would rather eat tasty food at a restaurant that serves dishes for $10 than junk like that.
Congee is a tremendous dish. Basic congee is rice and stock, the equivalent of chicken soup if you're feeling down, but I add ginger, garlic, kelp, goji berries, soy sauce, sesame oil and add eggs near the end to poach them in the congee, then top it with cubes of pan fried pork belly.... Yum
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.
I was curious if there were going to be more references to historical fashion creators. They would have NO issue showing off exactly how much work goes into an outfit
I was thinking the same thing about his costume. I would have happily built him a lavish 18th century court costume out of satin and taffeta. But what to do about the wigs? I'm a playwright who sometimes writes period pieces - but I also sew the costumes because I love it - (saves money, too) - and I truly do not know what I love best - the writing or the sewing. Both are so much fun. I could see John in a King George knockoff. But I just can't envision him in a wig.
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.
Being southern myself, it was a form of hospitality and making sure that if anyone leaves hungry it was their own fault. Putting on the dog has nothing to do with it.
@@gidget8717Or why people of older generations might consider a place like Olive Garden fancy. Modern cuisine's focus on quality and being in season with small, curated menus is very recent
@@TheSkyline77 additionally, with spices and such being so common and accessible, fancy cuisine forgoes most all of them for rare or local variants of ingredients and substituting fresh herbs for dried spices (because now having the space and time for growing formerly "poverty" ingredients (garlic eater used to be an insult) can often be a luxury)
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.
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.
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.
@@ianfinrir8724This same concept was in ancient Rome. The wealthy had clothes with vibrant colors. One of the most popular colors was purple, because it was so expensive to make bright colored dyes
@@NiquidFox Kind of, but purple in Roman times was so rare and expensive that it was given religious significance. Someone would only really wear purple if they were a child (to show they had divine protection) or if they were granted a triumph. Purple was then associated with the Emperors and Roman royalty; even if you were rich, wearing purple day to day would be pretty sacrilegious.
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.
@@LBJshowedmehisJit's still fascinating that even the cheapest and most "poor" level computer is eons beyond the tech that the richest of the 18th century had
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
What is fascinating. Especially because I thought capons were just small hens until this video 🤣🤣 That's probably because my mother (bless her) wouldn't want to explain 'what really went on'.
@@justicedemocrat9357 More tender and juicy. They had a bit more fat than a hen or definitely a rooster (but by the time you ate a rooster, they were real stringy.)
The traditional feast for Christmas and Easter in my country is simplified "French serving" I now realise. We call it The Cold Table. You usually have 4-5 servings, each a full table. Less extravagant than the parties of the video, but same concept. And yes, it does take 4-5 hours for such a meal. 1. Fish and egg servings. 2. Bread with sliced meat, toppings, spreads. 3. Warm dishes. 4. Some special dish. 5. Cheese, grapes, crackers, ect. Or desserts. (6. Tea, portwine, chocolate).
@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken Denmark. It is sometimes called smorgesbord in English, but that is a Swedish word and concept which is more of a buffet. It is different from the Danish one.
That's how I handle Christmas dinner here in the United States as well. I've just gone through a whole month of preparation, parties and activities. I'm exhausted and have no desire to do any more than I must. So I set out something like this and people wander by when hungry and eat as they please.
Comparing this to Tasting History's videos on things like the Shoguns and Roman Emperors' feasts, it's interesting to see how for most of human history and even across cultures the point of food for elites was seemingly always to show off rather than fully enjoy everything. Unless you enjoyed flamingo tongues or creamed spinach in what would have ended up as a soggy loaf.
those dishes were meant for feast, treat, and celebration, not everyday. and yes showing off is part of feasting and celebration, even today no one cook a whole turkey at home beside the holidy
@@namleist No one cooks a whole turkey because not many families can finish without wasting. You will see some people buy tens of pounds of frozen meat when it's on sale.
Such emphasis on presentation to the point of impracticality is certainly a rather interesting concept! I wonder how many dishes would be absolute flops taste-wise like liver. I will say however that the creamed spinach in a roll is delicious and not at all soggy if you put it in a firm bread (I typically see round loaves used, though) and break off chunks to dip in the spinach. It's not too hard to make these days since good spinach, cream and bread are all readily available at the supermarket, and it'll certainly impress in both taste and presentation.
@@tenchraven Ah yes I too am a sarcastic prick when referring to a broader concept than the thing the original poster talked about in order to assert my superiority over knowing a well-known and intuitive to understand concept. It couldn't have been that I was remarking on a more specific cultural practice than just consumption and how it being expressed in multiple cultures and times is an interesting anecdote. No, it must have been that I just now am learning about the general concept of flaunting wealth. I'm sure people in your day to day life really appreciate your pedantic smugness.
I'd love to see something like this when you have the whole "village" together, and could have something of a crew working to make a whole meal for everyone. Maybe at a time of year you could source a lot of things easier (maybe from farmers markets, etc.) like summer-fall, where you could prepare a feast like this, but having more people, more resources, more hands, and more mouths to actually eat all of the food in the feast. Imagining something like a thanksgiving feast for everyone.
So well done, Townsends team! I’ve been wanting to hear that quote about the fountain of punch with all the lemons again! I remember first hearing it on a holiday live stream when you used to do them in front of a curtain, and it blew my mind! So much fun! So well handled. ✌️😌💜
@@pregnant9574 it's not a cooking program, Townsend's videos are a glimpse into the 18th century as it really was if you just want cooking without the history buy the art of cookery and do it yourself
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.
Interesting that it is called "french style". In Poland when you make table full of food and anyone just take what they want, is called "Swedish table".
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!!!😂😂
I think it's important to note that John's saying this was about "new money" trying to act like "old money." A true rich man's feast would've been very different. Old money relied on ancient heritage and practices. The capon would have been allowed to age for days or weeks (whole with guts), then soused (boiled in a water, salt, and vinegar solution) before baking or roasting. In between "regular" courses (as we know them), there would be what we'd call dessert courses of cakes and tarts and pies and such. Sometimes a live-looking bird (think goose or swan) would come out where a whole bird was cooked and then encased in a paste with the feathers, neck, and head of the dead bird reattached. Other times you'd have a pie that you'd cut into only to have live birds fly out. A lot of these practices dated back to the medieval times and were very much still in use by the old money rich in the 18th Century. New money rich either never had such a legacy to draw from or the financial resources to put on such displays continuously.
The US didnt draw a lot of old money elites the way it drew new money entrepreneurs - why leave a society and culture which already extensively benefits you for one you'll have to reforge a name in?
It predates the medieval times. You can read about an extravagant dinner like that in Satyricon by Petronius Arbiter, who lived in Rome almost 2000 years ago.
Thank you for addressing that this was not a common everyday thing, but for only a few times a year. I think history shows can often times come across as all these wonderful things always are happening and they don't when they try and present a day in the life of whoever. It would be neat to see what a common dinner was for a generic day, and maybe what they would do when hosting a friend too for the rich. Keep up the good work.
Its kinda "easy" to bake icecream. You place it(the icecream) on some buttom of cake/biscuit, perhaps with a tiny layer of whipped eggwhite. Can possibly skip one of the two if you feel lucky. You then cover all of the icecream with whipped eggwhite n sugar, and you bake that til it turn to maringue. The microstructure of the eggwhite with all its tiny airbubbles wil insulate the icecream just enough that if you time it perfectly, youll have warm baked icecream with a cold center.. Om nom nom
9:05 "... five pounds of nutmeg..." In the far distance, through an echo of the time vortex, Jon can be heard shouting, "There's not enough nutmeg!" :) I suppose the closest thing to the idea of "a rich mans feast" you could get today, would be an all you can eat buffet, with dozens of different dishes all of which you can sample, from starters, mains and desserts.
I'm chinese and a family dinner now sounds like rich man's feast. All of the dishes in the middle of a large table and we all reach out to take our pick onto our individual empty plates, and for dishes on far side of table we usually ask person near it to pass it over.
A christmas dinner cooked by Eastern European grandparents is a pretty close one. Two long tables put together, filled with soup, meats, side dishes, pastries and cakes...
I appreciate the explanation of the process. Feasting for the rich seems more of a societal obligation more than the food itself, so I can see why the food would be hard to feature in an episode. For the hesitation about it, I think you nailed the spirit of the concept. That spinach dish, in particular, may feature on a Thanksgiving spread in the years to come.
That looks absolutely amazing! Thank you for all of the hard work you do. I love this channel! It's informational but also wholesome in a way that makes it a great escape from all the drama
Excellent episode. I’d have loved to have seen him replicate a small “rich man’s” table setting and perhaps borrow an appropriate period outfit (since they’re otherwise expensive). 😁
I really appreciate the attention Townsends pays to working people and all the different feast vids have really highlighted the various trades and lifestyles of the people. Too much of history is "Great Man" theory focused on the powerful (and often very rich) people who "shaped history." But while there have always been influential people, the history of humanity is the struggle of the working class.
'Well I'm upper-upper class high society God's gift to ballroom notoriety And I always fill my ballroom The event is never small The social pages say I've got The biggest balls of all' - AC/DC
Thank you for talking about the historiography around class in this. it’s a really touchy subject, but it’s so critical and a source of some significant historical misunderstanding and misrepresentation. It can be so hard for us modern average people to understand that, for most of history, “average” didn’t mean middle-class, or even working-class; it meant poor, and most people lived and died poor. And in truth, even today, middle-class isn’t the average, we are just very lucky to have inherited a place on the shoulders of giants. That’s not to say we should keep our heads down and accept our lot, in fact I think it teaches us the opposite - that our lot can be improved, both by innovation and revolution, and that wealth inequality is a weapon of the powerful
A Capon is a rooster that has been "fixed". Similar to eunuchs and thus they get quite huge and remain tender well past the point of where a normal rooster is butchered...
A hogshead is 63 gallons. I know this because more than 2 decades ago I was in a chemistry class where the teacher asked which system of measure we would prefer - imperial or metric. We all, of course (in the US), said imperial. He says, "I tell you what - I will give you an exam testing your ability to convert units of measure - one side of the paper is imperial, the other metric. After scoring I will let you determine which units of measure we use from here on out." One of the questions was, "How many gallons are in a hogshead?" We chose metric in the end.
One of the reasons I love your channel is because you don’t focus on rich people. Sure, their history is interesting, but I want to know about how my ancestors lived and ate, and they definitely weren’t rich.
I do 14th century reenactment and you don't want to know how much I spent just trying to pull off a "mercenary with some extra coin" look. And an aristocratic impression would be ten times as expensive.
It sounds like the only person who legitimately enjoyed the whole affair was the boy who got to paddle around the fountain and serve drinks. Depending on his age, I could see a young boy actually being entertained by that for hours.
The reason for all this food and presentation - has nothing to do sustenance, like you said, Jon, and everything to do with Entertainment. A competition of who can put the greatest Show of a Meal with all of the accoutrements and the Best Taste, both Socially and Palette wise. Bored and boring people need a lot of distractions to get and keep their attention for short and long days. 😆😆😆 Thx for doing this, filming it and sharing it with us.
@@dbmail545even rich it was an extravagance to kill a laying hen that's like killing a money printing machine, I suspect that's why they went for capons
Great program, as always. Very interesting seeing the rich man's feast, but it is easy making a feast for a rich man. The real challenge is making a feast for a poor man, which is why I love those programs.
Watched this channel for a long time and also from the same area as you and i gotta say im glad to see you treat yourseld this time. You deserve that kings feast.
Very informative presentation. Thank you for filling in the blanks with regard to what French cuisine in America was at the time, Carême and Escoffier are a whole 'nother story. Thank you.
I’m continually impressed by the amount of effort that goes into these videos, from the research to the cooking to the editing. You definitely don’t phone it in!
I genuinely could NOT care less about the food people ate hundreds of years ago but there’s something about your channel and your personality that’s so addictive. It’s such a comforting channel and i actually learn a lot.
In olden days you don't eat chicken everyday. You keep chickens so you can get their eggs. You only slaughter chickens for special occasions. Now, I pretty much eat chicken everyday. The reverse is fish. Fish was so abundant back then, considering most settlements are formed near the bodies of water, people just eat lots of fish. Now, well, they're definitely more expensive than chicken, especially for something like salmon.
My body clearly hates modern tastes because I do not like chicken - it really upsets my stomach, but I love lamb and fish. And thankfully I can afford $25/day of food(like $150 a week, actually quite average where I live) so I can eat steak, lamb shoulder, and salmon every day.
Food history is so engaging. It’s so easy to go grab something fast today it’s easy to forget how much a person’s life through history (especially considering the overwhelming majority of humans since the beginning of civilization were primarily farmers) revolved around food. And how much food was used as a status symbol like clothing, architecture, art.. except we can actually experience most of those dishes today
We are getting close to experiencing what the 18th century was in todays time. Extreme wealth or extreme poverty, there is hardly any middleground or middleclass.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Also, poor people wanting to appear rich - that hasn't changed either. So many people driving themselves into bankruptcy in the name of keeping up with the Joneses.
I believe we're forgetting the amount of food waste at these dinners were legendary as it was considered rude amongst the aristocracy to "finish" what was on your plate. Portions were super tiny, super rich, and of various textures and taste profiles to even allow you to make it through several courses.
Some of us in the wine industry love talking about the vineyard planting that was sold as New World wine back to their European mother nations. Here in Williamsburg we still have sections of town that are registered as landmarks to the 18th century vineyards that were decreed by the British.
One of those videos that really demonstrates how high our quality of life is today. We should be thankful that so many of us could afford a feast like this today whereas it would've seemed a dream to those of the past.
In Armenia (and I’d wager in many other counties too) we still set the table in the “French style”. It’s common to see in weddings, major holiday feasts, birthdays etc. a big table filled with dishes: usually roasted meat (‘Khorovats’) surrounded by side dishes, different salads, a platter of cheese and, of course, bread (lavash!). We tend to put the same dishes in each end of the table so no one has to ask to be handed something too far off. Even in traditional Armenian restaurants people usually order a plethora of dishes and just share them. I’ve only eaten dishes in consecutive “courses” (on one personal platter) in fancy restaurants haha.
One of the most interesting insights about how it could look like back in XVII century is the movie Vatel (it's is filmed as drama, but there is much less drama - more like detailed depiction of technical processes performed by François Vatel).
1:05 -- When the middle class began to expand during the early 19th century, upper class people weren't entirely sure where middle class people fit in the social hierarchy.
The extravagance is reminding me of a 100 course meal Robert Ripley experienced over 3 days somewhere out in Malaysia/Indonesia area in the 1930's or 1940's.
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The cover with a plate full of coins is so hilarious.
*Hilarious
It seems accurate though no? We all eat money in a way, it is hard to eat without it particularly in the modern day
it was very hilariou, yea ngl
Mmm... Lead.
a plate full of whole nutmeg seeds would conveyed the same, has anyone seen the price of those? jeez
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 🍍.
how does that even happen
@@MattSuguisAsFondAsEverrrYou can grow pineapples, not so easy to do that to salmon.
Lobster was considered Poors mans food, back then too!
I suppose it all depended on where you lived, and what food was in abundance!?
just like Car vs Horse
1920: Average People- Horses, Rich - Cars
2020: Average People - Cars, Rich - Horses
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.
I love history - this is a great read out for him. Do you have any sources, if you don’t, that’s fine. I’m not doubting you, but it would great to be able back naysayers with this.
@@zandernewson9933 Frank O'Gorman's "The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832" is an absolutely fantastic book on Britain in the time period and covers all 4 Georgian monarchs, their politics, their personalities and their public images very well, as well as a host of other topics like country life, changing manners, religious practices and the wars of the time. Very highly recommended.
I don't know of a good biography on George III off the top of my head but I'm sure there are plenty. I don't have any recommendations for primary sources off the top of my head either, but O'Gorman is generally good at using them and referencing them to the reader. Happy reading!
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.
To this very day there are fancy restaurants that serve things that are just for showing off wealth. There is a restaurant in Stockholm serving things like cooked spruce twigs for $200...Although I would rather be a billionaire than on a meager disability pension as I am now, I would rather eat tasty food at a restaurant that serves dishes for $10 than junk like that.
@@francisdec1615 average 'fancy' food:
half a strawberry drizzled in melted nutella
weeds from the lawn
$3 gold leaf shredding
price: $800
Congee is a tremendous dish. Basic congee is rice and stock, the equivalent of chicken soup if you're feeling down, but I add ginger, garlic, kelp, goji berries, soy sauce, sesame oil and add eggs near the end to poach them in the congee, then top it with cubes of pan fried pork belly.... Yum
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.
I was curious if there were going to be more references to historical fashion creators. They would have NO issue showing off exactly how much work goes into an outfit
@@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken perhaps we could pester Jon into making a livestream out of it...
Well, the rich people doesn't cook their own food so he still correct
I would love to see Morgan Donner, Bernadette Banner or any other number of historical fashion TH-camrs do a crossover!@@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken
I was thinking the same thing about his costume. I would have happily built him a lavish 18th century court costume out of satin and taffeta. But what to do about the wigs?
I'm a playwright who sometimes writes period pieces - but I also sew the costumes because I love it - (saves money, too) - and I truly do not know what I love best - the writing or the sewing. Both are so much fun. I could see John in a King George knockoff. But I just can't envision him in a wig.
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.
It also explains why traditionally our celebration dinners contain lots of variety. Think holidays, reunions...
These days, nine different vegetable dishes sounds pretty good. Given the price of vegetables these days...
Being southern myself, it was a form of hospitality and making sure that if anyone leaves hungry it was their own fault. Putting on the dog has nothing to do with it.
@@gidget8717Or why people of older generations might consider a place like Olive Garden fancy. Modern cuisine's focus on quality and being in season with small, curated menus is very recent
@@TheSkyline77 additionally, with spices and such being so common and accessible, fancy cuisine forgoes most all of them for rare or local variants of ingredients and substituting fresh herbs for dried spices (because now having the space and time for growing formerly "poverty" ingredients (garlic eater used to be an insult) can often be a luxury)
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.
That's...dark, but very interesting.
Interesting indeed. Might be something to it.
That makes a lot of sense
Good thing poisoning is a thing of the past😂
@@Амин-т4х Except in Russia.
As a Georgian enthusiast, it's so nice to see someone really dig into the difference between Russian service and French service!
What is a georgian enthusiast? You mean the country of georgia? If yes hello from Georgia, I also love me own country ❤ 🇬🇪
@@zurabigvishiani1144 Georgian as in the era of King George. Like Victorian for Queen Victoria.
It's interesting to find out that the service we have at Chinese banquets are actually French style.
@@zurabigvishiani1144 Unfortunately nothing to do with the land of Sakartvelo
@@4rumani :((
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.
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.
It's like when you look at a Renaissance painting of a battle. Anyone wearing gaudy colors was probably pretty well off.
Hummm .... I must have been in to too many Regency novels; high-end car = a barouche and matching 4-in-hand and yards and yards of 'fine muslin.' 😉
Not to mention no social media. They had to invite people over to look at their wealth.
@@ianfinrir8724This same concept was in ancient Rome. The wealthy had clothes with vibrant colors. One of the most popular colors was purple, because it was so expensive to make bright colored dyes
@@NiquidFox Kind of, but purple in Roman times was so rare and expensive that it was given religious significance. Someone would only really wear purple if they were a child (to show they had divine protection) or if they were granted a triumph. Purple was then associated with the Emperors and Roman royalty; even if you were rich, wearing purple day to day would be pretty sacrilegious.
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.
Common fare can still be pretty fancy if you make it so. But i have to assume George III didn't go too crazy on the spices lol
@@Kite403 Well, he was English.
That dessert fountain description made me feel peasant-poor, hundreds of years down the line watching this video on a $3200 computer lol.
You must have a Mac
Or a high end pc with rtx 3090 and ekwb custom loop watercooling
Funnily enough, I'm at the opposite extreme. I'm watching this on a computer I cobbled together with 250-400 dollars worth of junky parts.
They really made that feast to flex across even future generations.
@@LBJshowedmehisJit's still fascinating that even the cheapest and most "poor" level computer is eons beyond the tech that the richest of the 18th century had
Ah yes my favourite dish. A piece of eight.
ARRRRR! ☠️
Just remember, it needs to be nine pieces of eight.
Pieces of eight, pieces of eight😂
And a tankard of ale... He'll show you the map, and tell you its tale~
WOODEN BARQUE THROUGH THE ENDLESS SEA
TONS OF RUM, BRING THE BOOZE TO ME
WE'RE ON A SHIP, TO THE WINDS WE BOW
ALL RENEGADES, WE'LL OVERTHROW
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
A wonderful story. Thank you!
What is fascinating. Especially because I thought capons were just small hens until this video 🤣🤣
That's probably because my mother (bless her) wouldn't want to explain 'what really went on'.
Did the capons taste like normal chicken or different?
@@justicedemocrat9357 More tender and juicy. They had a bit more fat than a hen or definitely a rooster (but by the time you ate a rooster, they were real stringy.)
@@paulw6550 I'd imagine it was the distinct lack of testosterone due to being a eunuch?
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
I need to reread that. It's been many decades.
@@gailsears2913 it's one of my favorites too :) Happy Reading
The traditional feast for Christmas and Easter in my country is simplified "French serving" I now realise. We call it The Cold Table. You usually have 4-5 servings, each a full table. Less extravagant than the parties of the video, but same concept. And yes, it does take 4-5 hours for such a meal.
1. Fish and egg servings.
2. Bread with sliced meat, toppings, spreads.
3. Warm dishes.
4. Some special dish.
5. Cheese, grapes, crackers, ect. Or desserts.
(6. Tea, portwine, chocolate).
Whereabouts? It sounds amazing
@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken Denmark. It is sometimes called smorgesbord in English, but that is a Swedish word and concept which is more of a buffet. It is different from the Danish one.
This really reminded me of our family's Christmas feast tradition in Finland too.
That's how I handle Christmas dinner here in the United States as well. I've just gone through a whole month of preparation, parties and activities. I'm exhausted and have no desire to do any more than I must. So I set out something like this and people wander by when hungry and eat as they please.
Oh YUM!!!!!!!!!!
Jon's reaction after biting into that that tart was *exactly* like Max Miller when something turns out good 😆
Who the hell is mex miller?
@@justicedemocrat9357tasting history
I thought the same thing!
Comparing this to Tasting History's videos on things like the Shoguns and Roman Emperors' feasts, it's interesting to see how for most of human history and even across cultures the point of food for elites was seemingly always to show off rather than fully enjoy everything. Unless you enjoyed flamingo tongues or creamed spinach in what would have ended up as a soggy loaf.
those dishes were meant for feast, treat, and celebration, not everyday. and yes showing off is part of feasting and celebration, even today no one cook a whole turkey at home beside the holidy
@@namleist No one cooks a whole turkey because not many families can finish without wasting. You will see some people buy tens of pounds of frozen meat when it's on sale.
Such emphasis on presentation to the point of impracticality is certainly a rather interesting concept! I wonder how many dishes would be absolute flops taste-wise like liver.
I will say however that the creamed spinach in a roll is delicious and not at all soggy if you put it in a firm bread (I typically see round loaves used, though) and break off chunks to dip in the spinach. It's not too hard to make these days since good spinach, cream and bread are all readily available at the supermarket, and it'll certainly impress in both taste and presentation.
Welcome to Earth, I guess? If you're just noticing the point of conspicious consumption, I'm guessing you're new here.
@@tenchraven Ah yes I too am a sarcastic prick when referring to a broader concept than the thing the original poster talked about in order to assert my superiority over knowing a well-known and intuitive to understand concept.
It couldn't have been that I was remarking on a more specific cultural practice than just consumption and how it being expressed in multiple cultures and times is an interesting anecdote. No, it must have been that I just now am learning about the general concept of flaunting wealth.
I'm sure people in your day to day life really appreciate your pedantic smugness.
Finally feast that Jon Townsend deserves.
We are all richer for having Townsends in our lives .. ☮
I'd love to see something like this when you have the whole "village" together, and could have something of a crew working to make a whole meal for everyone. Maybe at a time of year you could source a lot of things easier (maybe from farmers markets, etc.) like summer-fall, where you could prepare a feast like this, but having more people, more resources, more hands, and more mouths to actually eat all of the food in the feast. Imagining something like a thanksgiving feast for everyone.
and more money to pay for all the food and workers. 😲Not everything can be done relying on volunteers and food donations.
a fancy potluck - I'm in
So well done, Townsends team! I’ve been wanting to hear that quote about the fountain of punch with all the lemons again! I remember first hearing it on a holiday live stream when you used to do them in front of a curtain, and it blew my mind! So much fun! So well handled. ✌️😌💜
The videos suck now because all he does is talk and not cook
@@pregnant9574rude
@@pregnant9574 it's not a cooking program, Townsend's videos are a glimpse into the 18th century as it really was if you just want cooking without the history buy the art of cookery and do it yourself
Seeing that Townsends uploaded a new video sure is a feast to the eyes.
What my mother called 'Putting on the Aires' - trying to be what you're not. I really enjoy the videos of the 17th and 18th centuries.
At first I read that as Aries, like the astrology sign, and was thinking yeah, they do think they are the greatest gift to man kind. 😅
We are lol @@labhrais6957
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.
Interesting that it is called "french style". In Poland when you make table full of food and anyone just take what they want, is called "Swedish table".
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!!!😂😂
I think it's important to note that John's saying this was about "new money" trying to act like "old money." A true rich man's feast would've been very different. Old money relied on ancient heritage and practices. The capon would have been allowed to age for days or weeks (whole with guts), then soused (boiled in a water, salt, and vinegar solution) before baking or roasting. In between "regular" courses (as we know them), there would be what we'd call dessert courses of cakes and tarts and pies and such. Sometimes a live-looking bird (think goose or swan) would come out where a whole bird was cooked and then encased in a paste with the feathers, neck, and head of the dead bird reattached. Other times you'd have a pie that you'd cut into only to have live birds fly out. A lot of these practices dated back to the medieval times and were very much still in use by the old money rich in the 18th Century. New money rich either never had such a legacy to draw from or the financial resources to put on such displays continuously.
The US didnt draw a lot of old money elites the way it drew new money entrepreneurs - why leave a society and culture which already extensively benefits you for one you'll have to reforge a name in?
It predates the medieval times. You can read about an extravagant dinner like that in Satyricon by Petronius Arbiter, who lived in Rome almost 2000 years ago.
That pie with the live birds sounds super cool. Like a stage act.
9:01 "five pounds of grated nutmegs" - The James Townsend version has 15 pounds
Thank you for addressing that this was not a common everyday thing, but for only a few times a year. I think history shows can often times come across as all these wonderful things always are happening and they don't when they try and present a day in the life of whoever. It would be neat to see what a common dinner was for a generic day, and maybe what they would do when hosting a friend too for the rich.
Keep up the good work.
Its kinda "easy" to bake icecream.
You place it(the icecream) on some buttom of cake/biscuit, perhaps with a tiny layer of whipped eggwhite. Can possibly skip one of the two if you feel lucky.
You then cover all of the icecream with whipped eggwhite n sugar, and you bake that til it turn to maringue. The microstructure of the eggwhite with all its tiny airbubbles wil insulate the icecream just enough that if you time it perfectly, youll have warm baked icecream with a cold center.. Om nom nom
Baked Alaska
9:05 "... five pounds of nutmeg..." In the far distance, through an echo of the time vortex, Jon can be heard shouting, "There's not enough nutmeg!" :)
I suppose the closest thing to the idea of "a rich mans feast" you could get today, would be an all you can eat buffet, with dozens of different dishes all of which you can sample, from starters, mains and desserts.
I wonder if he's ever hallucinated from the amount of nutmeg he eats.
No, because all you can eat buffets cut corners everywhere and try and cheap out where ever they can. The closest you’ll get is wedding faire.
I'd say maybe a Michelin star restaurant serving up 10-15 course meal $$$$
I'm chinese and a family dinner now sounds like rich man's feast. All of the dishes in the middle of a large table and we all reach out to take our pick onto our individual empty plates, and for dishes on far side of table we usually ask person near it to pass it over.
A christmas dinner cooked by Eastern European grandparents is a pretty close one. Two long tables put together, filled with soup, meats, side dishes, pastries and cakes...
I appreciate the explanation of the process. Feasting for the rich seems more of a societal obligation more than the food itself, so I can see why the food would be hard to feature in an episode. For the hesitation about it, I think you nailed the spirit of the concept. That spinach dish, in particular, may feature on a Thanksgiving spread in the years to come.
I'm with the knave of hearts:
I'd steal me one of them tarts!
These days a rich mans feast is a 6 pack of decent beer with a wendys baconator
Hell yeah brother
Fast food is expensive but I'll take fast food over banquet food any day. Poor people spices have simply outperformed rich people spices.
@@theurzamachine😂 care to explain?
@@theurzamachineRemember the fast food feast in Talledega nights? Pizza, KFC, taco bell. That is definitely a rich mans feast now.
@@keptleroymg6877 What's more delicious to you, fast food or some 3 course meal at a fancy banquet hall? I would prefer fast food every time.
That looks absolutely amazing! Thank you for all of the hard work you do. I love this channel! It's informational but also wholesome in a way that makes it a great escape from all the drama
Excellent episode. I’d have loved to have seen him replicate a small “rich man’s” table setting and perhaps borrow an appropriate period outfit (since they’re otherwise expensive). 😁
I really appreciate the attention Townsends pays to working people and all the different feast vids have really highlighted the various trades and lifestyles of the people. Too much of history is "Great Man" theory focused on the powerful (and often very rich) people who "shaped history." But while there have always been influential people, the history of humanity is the struggle of the working class.
'Well I'm upper-upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all' - AC/DC
"Some balls are held for charity,
And some for fancy dress.
But when they're held for pleasure,
They're the balls that I like best."
Thank you for talking about the historiography around class in this. it’s a really touchy subject, but it’s so critical and a source of some significant historical misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
It can be so hard for us modern average people to understand that, for most of history, “average” didn’t mean middle-class, or even working-class; it meant poor, and most people lived and died poor.
And in truth, even today, middle-class isn’t the average, we are just very lucky to have inherited a place on the shoulders of giants.
That’s not to say we should keep our heads down and accept our lot, in fact I think it teaches us the opposite - that our lot can be improved, both by innovation and revolution, and that wealth inequality is a weapon of the powerful
I see I have arrived at the most opportune of times!
Well met! :)
A Capon is a rooster that has been "fixed". Similar to eunuchs and thus they get quite huge and remain tender well past the point of where a normal rooster is butchered...
Have you tasted an eunuch?
@@alainx277The priesthood tends to keep the choir boys for themselves.
The thumbnail is basically AoE3's dutch in a nutshell.
LMFAO
Those annoying Envoys be spying on my base.
@@Labyrinth6000 Time to pop out the militiaman and show them who's boss!
It is nice after a long week to sit down and relax, watching Jon talk history and cook! Something about his presentation is interesting and soothing.
The amount of time it took to create dishes like this in the 18th century, must have been immense. That looks really good. Cheers!
I recommend watching "Bebette's Feast" to get a sense of what the elites would eat compared to the average commoner.
A hogshead is 63 gallons. I know this because more than 2 decades ago I was in a chemistry class where the teacher asked which system of measure we would prefer - imperial or metric. We all, of course (in the US), said imperial. He says, "I tell you what - I will give you an exam testing your ability to convert units of measure - one side of the paper is imperial, the other metric. After scoring I will let you determine which units of measure we use from here on out." One of the questions was, "How many gallons are in a hogshead?" We chose metric in the end.
Would have been more entertaining to have gone with imperial.
Love this! Obviously stayed in your mind. 😊😊
@@Kriss_L There is that. 😁😁
Emm a hogshead of English Somerset cider will get your party going.
Did he teach class in Esperanto?
One of the reasons I love your channel is because you don’t focus on rich people. Sure, their history is interesting, but I want to know about how my ancestors lived and ate, and they definitely weren’t rich.
I do 14th century reenactment and you don't want to know how much I spent just trying to pull off a "mercenary with some extra coin" look. And an aristocratic impression would be ten times as expensive.
Love the detail and depth you go through to explain the how and why. Really provides perspective.
Townsends never gets old. Been watching for years and it’s always so comfy
It sounds like the only person who legitimately enjoyed the whole affair was the boy who got to paddle around the fountain and serve drinks. Depending on his age, I could see a young boy actually being entertained by that for hours.
Do know that for this time, boy can mean a lot of things depending on the person speaking.
The reason for all this food and presentation - has nothing to do sustenance, like you said, Jon, and everything to do with Entertainment. A competition of who can put the greatest Show of a Meal with all of the accoutrements and the Best Taste, both Socially and Palette wise. Bored and boring people need a lot of distractions to get and keep their attention for short and long days. 😆😆😆 Thx for doing this, filming it and sharing it with us.
awesome videos! Like you said, lotta poor mans meals its so interesting to see a richer one
I like the description of a capon as a “special chicken”
I understand that poor people kept chickens for their eggs, rarely eating them before the 19th century.
It's special because it's a neutered male.
@@dbmail545even rich it was an extravagance to kill a laying hen that's like killing a money printing machine, I suspect that's why they went for capons
Great program, as always. Very interesting seeing the rich man's feast, but it is easy making a feast for a rich man. The real challenge is making a feast for a poor man, which is why I love those programs.
Watched this channel for a long time and also from the same area as you and i gotta say im glad to see you treat yourseld this time. You deserve that kings feast.
Very informative presentation. Thank you for filling in the blanks with regard to what French cuisine in America was at the time, Carême and Escoffier are a whole 'nother story. Thank you.
And this is why* the French Revolution happened.
*Among several other reasons, but listing all that down would kill the joke.
This was so interesting. Love this channel.
I’m continually impressed by the amount of effort that goes into these videos, from the research to the cooking to the editing. You definitely don’t phone it in!
I love this series. So informativ and entertaining at the same time.
I hope this feast also benefitted the rest of the team 🍽️
I genuinely could NOT care less about the food people ate hundreds of years ago but there’s something about your channel and your personality that’s so addictive. It’s such a comforting channel and i actually learn a lot.
Thanks for the awesome content and amazing videos!!
You are one of the best creators on this platform. Thank you for humanizing the past.
nothing is as good as breakfast and townsends in the morning
That fountain description fits in with every childhood fantasy I ever had of royalty and I feel so vindicated.
In olden days you don't eat chicken everyday. You keep chickens so you can get their eggs. You only slaughter chickens for special occasions.
Now, I pretty much eat chicken everyday.
The reverse is fish. Fish was so abundant back then, considering most settlements are formed near the bodies of water, people just eat lots of fish. Now, well, they're definitely more expensive than chicken, especially for something like salmon.
My body clearly hates modern tastes because I do not like chicken - it really upsets my stomach, but I love lamb and fish. And thankfully I can afford $25/day of food(like $150 a week, actually quite average where I live) so I can eat steak, lamb shoulder, and salmon every day.
Even though it wouldn’t be possible to recreate such a feast, this video paints such a vibrant picture that I feel almost like I’ve seen it in person.
Food history is so engaging. It’s so easy to go grab something fast today it’s easy to forget how much a person’s life through history (especially considering the overwhelming majority of humans since the beginning of civilization were primarily farmers) revolved around food. And how much food was used as a status symbol like clothing, architecture, art.. except we can actually experience most of those dishes today
Rich or poor, I always enjoy your food videos, sir. Happy reenacting!
We are getting close to experiencing what the 18th century was in todays time. Extreme wealth or extreme poverty, there is hardly any middleground or middleclass.
"a huge disparity between the rich and the poor and there was barely a middle class"
gee why does that seem sooo familiar???
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Also, poor people wanting to appear rich - that hasn't changed either. So many people driving themselves into bankruptcy in the name of keeping up with the Joneses.
It’s worse now than it was before the French Revolution
I believe we're forgetting the amount of food waste at these dinners were legendary as it was considered rude amongst the aristocracy to "finish" what was on your plate. Portions were super tiny, super rich, and of various textures and taste profiles to even allow you to make it through several courses.
I wonder if the "help" was able to make use of the leftovers?
Some of us in the wine industry love talking about the vineyard planting that was sold as New World wine back to their European mother nations. Here in Williamsburg we still have sections of town that are registered as landmarks to the 18th century vineyards that were decreed by the British.
Great video, thank you sir.
Strong work...as usual! Thank you for this great presentation!
This was so incredibly interesting. Your productions are always entertaining and educational.
Great video. Nicely done, great imagery describing meals of the rich from the past. 😊
I so truly love your videos
Catching up on all the Townsends i missed over the last 2 weeks. ITS A TOWNSENDS SUNDAY!!!
I am so thankful for this channel. Such great content and wonderful presenters.😊 I love history keep up the amazing work gentlemen. 👏
Excellent video Jon like always! I love the feast videos!
One of those videos that really demonstrates how high our quality of life is today. We should be thankful that so many of us could afford a feast like this today whereas it would've seemed a dream to those of the past.
Amazing content! There is always quality in your work.
A fantastic exploration of the subject! Excellent choices for the dishes, they all looked delicious.
In Armenia (and I’d wager in many other counties too) we still set the table in the “French style”. It’s common to see in weddings, major holiday feasts, birthdays etc. a big table filled with dishes: usually roasted meat (‘Khorovats’) surrounded by side dishes, different salads, a platter of cheese and, of course, bread (lavash!). We tend to put the same dishes in each end of the table so no one has to ask to be handed something too far off. Even in traditional Armenian restaurants people usually order a plethora of dishes and just share them. I’ve only eaten dishes in consecutive “courses” (on one personal platter) in fancy restaurants haha.
Amazing narration. Really could imagine the scene.
Thank you Townsends for making my lunch time all the more enjoyable!
For all the downsides of our highly interconnected world, it's really cool that so many of us can eat like this at least once a month
Great Video! Looks so good, I'm going to need to make it for myself!
Thanks!
One of the most interesting insights about how it could look like back in XVII century is the movie Vatel (it's is filmed as drama, but there is much less drama - more like detailed depiction of technical processes performed by François Vatel).
How fascinating. I learned so much and could nearly taste what your team made.
1:05 -- When the middle class began to expand during the early 19th century, upper class people weren't entirely sure where middle class people fit in the social hierarchy.
Surprising to see lobster on the list. I remember always hearing it used to be for the poor.
Big fan bro
we have feasts like this every day now. just take a trip to an all you can eat buffet. an expensive one.
The extravagance is reminding me of a 100 course meal Robert Ripley experienced over 3 days somewhere out in Malaysia/Indonesia area in the 1930's or 1940's.
Thank you for this excellent video. Carry On Sir!
Sounds very interesting John thank you very much always like the videos real well when you are physically active doing things I kind of relate to them