Ep. 95: Dinner Parties

On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Breanna discuss all things dinner parties. The two begin by discussing what they like about dinner parties and their personal experiences hosting and attending them. They then review common features of traditional dinner parties (cocktail hour, place settings, multiple course meals, and after-dinner entertainment) before detailing how they have changed over time. Amongst other things they discuss how Emily Post and Martha Stewart presented competing visions of the high-effort dinner party, how the depreciation of dining-related antiques demonstrates the decline of dinner parties in America, and how modern dinner parties emphasize a relaxed approach that is best demonstrated by Allison Roman’s Nothing Fancy.

Links:

Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home by Emily Post

How Dinner Parties Became the Fuzzy Blanket of Adulthood by Alissa Wilkinson

The Dinners That Shaped History by Brenda Wineapple

Eating Together : Food, Friendship and Inequality Alice P. Julier

The Pleasure of Your Company (but No Gaucheries, Please!): Dinner Parties in 19th-Century America by mansionmusings

Entirely Entertaining: Dishing Dinner Party Trends Through the Decades

I Tracked Down The Company Ruining Restaurants

The Art of Entertaining

Why Dinner Parties Still Matter

Entertaining by Martha Stewart

Martha (2024)