Meals

A t meal time, which is dinner, every-body shared a plate. The grown-ups share a plate and kids share a plate. They called the plates trenchers. Everybody had a knife, a spoon, but no fork. If you had your own plate you were a show-off. There was one or two cups on the table. Someone put the cup in the water or beer, took a sip, and handed it to the next parson. They went around the table and everybody took a sip. They didn’t have a fork because hands were made before forks, and it was good manners to not have one. Kids would stand when eating if they had no chairs. The women sat on benches and men sat on chairs. All the food was in the middle of the table. The men and special guests would sit closest to the bowl of salt. Women the second closest and kids the farthest. Also everybody had a really, really big napkin. Men handed it around their neck or shoulder, it touched their knees.

It was used for wiping your hands before you put them in the food bowl, picking up hot food and for wiping your plate after you finished. Sometimes you used stale bread as plates, when you were done you ate it. They had as many handles on the cup as people at the table. If it was a family of four, the cup would have four handles. You had to use your manners! -by Madison