On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 19:06:55 GMT, Falky foo wrote:

> Just thought I'd repost this warning.. I know most of you already know it,
> but some of the swankier places at which I've been dining have advertised a
> "high" tea which, of course, is afternoon tea. Here's yet another essay on
> how calling low tea high tea marks you as a pitiable lout.
>
> From restaurantreport.com:
>
> Tea
> (Or, Why I Almost Never Drink It In Restaurants)
> by Barbara Ann Rosenberg
> "Don't miss high tea at the Ritz!" urged - - no, commanded, my
> (purportedly) most sophisticated friend, as I headed out the door many years
> ago, bound for London for my very first visit to that fascinating city.
>
> As it turned out she was wrong, very wrong in her advice! No one at that
> plus ultra of elegance hotel, the Ritz, would be caught dead having "high
> tea", except one of the porters, perhaps...or a scullery maid! It seems that
> "high tea" is the working class equivalent of "supper" at which meal
> "ordinary folks" eat such things as "bangers and mash" (translates as "hot
> dogs and mashed potatoes") or Shephard's pie (lamb stew with some kind of
> crust)...certainly not the exquisite, refined food for which the Ritz (and
> its stellar chef, David Nicholls) are noted.
>
> What my friend had in mind was, actually, "afternoon tea", a ritual of the
> upper class (or "would be" upper class) folks who regularly indulge in a
> repast of teeny-weeny sandwiches concocted of such delectable things as
> watercress and shrimp pate followed by assorted teeny-weeny decorated
> pastries in fanciful shapes - - and a pot of properly brewed tea.
>
> [etc. blathering]

I'm no expert on English customs, but I thought the "high" and "low"
referred to the height of the table upon which it was served. High, being a
kitchen table for a meal as Falky sets forth, and low being in a living
room, where the tea is accompanied by those awful little sandwiches and
petit-fours and served to you on a low table. No?

--
Cordially,

Sonam Dasara
4/6/2005 3:24:40 PM
dovekeeper+at+electric-ink+dot+com