Dining above their station

Text 1: Dinner at Hensley Court, by Thomas Venn

An original letter written in a nineteenth-century voice; a period simulation, not an archival document.

Dear Mother, you will want to hear all about the dinner, and I hardly know whether to boast or to confess. There were eighteen at table and, by my count, eleven courses, each brought by a footman who stood behind my chair like a sentry. Before me lay an army of silver, four forks, three knives, and a spoon whose purpose I never discovered, and I spent the whole of the soup watching Lady Hensley’s hands from the corner of my eye so that I might copy her.

The dishes were more beautiful than any I have seen. There was a fish dressed to look as though it were swimming in a sea of aspic, and a pudding built in the shape of a castle, with a flag upon the tower. I praised everything loudly. I tasted very little of it, for I was so afraid of using the wrong fork that I hardly dared to eat.

I am told I acquitted myself well, and Mr Hensley spoke kindly of my prospects. But I will own to you, Mother, that when I reached my lodging at midnight I was so hungry that I ate half a loaf and a lump of cheese standing up in the kitchen, and it was the best thing I had eaten all day.

Text 2: Fourteen Courses and a Kebab, by Lauren Osei

An original contemporary blog.

My new boss took the whole team to a restaurant with two Michelin stars to celebrate the end of the project, and I have never been so nervous about a meal in my life. There were fourteen courses. Every one arrived with a waiter who explained it in a hushed voice, and I nodded seriously at words like “emulsion” and “foraged” while trying to work out which of the three spoons I was supposed to use. I spent most of the evening copying my boss.

Some of it was genuinely astonishing. One course was a single radish served on a pebble. Another was a dessert disguised as a flowerpot, with soil made of chocolate. I said “Wow” a lot and took photos, and I could not honestly tell you what most of it tasted like, because I was concentrating so hard on not spilling anything.

My boss said I had been great company, which was a relief. But at half eleven I got off the bus a stop early, went into the kebab shop and ate a large portion of chips on the walk home. I am a little ashamed to say they were the best thing I ate all night.

Both writers describe an expensive and formal meal.

What are the similarities between the writers’ experiences of the meal?

Draw on evidence from both texts to support your answer.