A fascinating post on one of my favorite subjects, the history of food.

Nom nom nom ~ Regency style

 by M.M. Bennetts

…The first meal of the day was generally taken at ten.  It lasted for about an hour and it was a good solid English breakfast.  ‘Morning’ itself then lasted until dinner at perhaps three or four in the afternoon.  Dinner went on for about two hours…For the most part, there were two courses, often called removes, plus dessert.  And the servants didn’t serve each individual from a tray onto their plate either.

Oh, and there was no allotted placement either, with the exception that the host would be the first into the room, escorting the ‘senior’ lady, and taking his place at the foot of the table, while the hostess sat at the upper end of the table and the guest(s) of honour sat near her.

When the family or family and guests walked into the dining room, the table would already be spread with an array of dishes of every kind of food–soup, fish, game, poultry, meat, pies, sauces, pickles, vegetables, puddings both sweet and savoury, jellies and custards.  Depending upon the occasion, there might be anything from five to twenty five different dishes, all arranged symmetrically around a centre dish.

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