"Yes Ma'dam, is there anything else I can get for you?"

Right, if you know me you'd know in terms of etiquette mine has a close resemblance to that of Adam Richman from Man vs. Food - check it out here:

 (Okay maybe not that bad!)

So when I had the opportunity to put my glad-rags on and head out the the posh delicacy of the Ritz with a friend for afternoon tea, I felt totally out-of-place with the fine etiquette of those around me.  It was honourable to be treated like royalty but definitely something I was not used to as I was surrounding by people of grandeur appeal, I was on my best behaviour as I sat with a straight back, one leg over the other (just like mum used to say!) and tried ever so hard not to spill my cuppa, get the jam of the scones on my face or accidentally drop my spoon.  I am not even joking when I say it was a difficult moment for me: I have a terrible habit of jamming in my joggers, sitting with my legs up and scoffing down any form of food without a care in the world.  Here's my experience...

As I entered I was greeted by the waitress, taken to my table, seated and presented with a menu.  So far so good, I thought to myself "I can handle this" I've done this before in plenty of restaurants.  But as my eyes wondered I realised I wasn't in the comfort of Nando's with an array of students just like me ready to munch a cheap chicken deal, I was in the Ritz: a place known to be prestigious and a place for the upper-class or dear I say it, 'posh' people.  So I took a deep breath and decided to just take it easy and enjoy the experience as much as I could.  As I checked out the drinks menu it wasn't the usual cocktail mix of Sex on the Beach or a Mojito (I'm only kidding I didn't expect this), but it was an selection of different types of tea - described so delicately, here's a few examples:

- Camomile Flowers - A pretty infusion, calming, soothing and delicate, elegant aroma

- Passion fruit and Orange - A truly wonderful taste, apple, hibiacus, sweet orange peel blended with passion fruit and orange

- Moroccan Mint - A wonderfully invigorating spearmint tea, caffeine free, highly scented, stimulating in the morning, soothing digestif 

You'd think you were checking out a selection of spa treatments right?  There was even an option for champagne (oooo fancy!) but not only was that a guaranteed option to mess up in this place, the bank balance was breaking at the thought of it!  As much as I'd have like to treat myself to a cheeky glass or, experiment in the wonders of a passion fruit tea or flower aromas, I was paying an awful lot for this tea so I thought I'd keep it safe and British with the good old Earl Grey tea.



Part of the High Tea package I opted for was the following

Sandwiches
- Ham, Grain Mustard Mayonnaise, White Bread
- Cheddar Cheese, Chutney, Onion Bread
- Cucumber, Cream Cheese, Dill, Chives, Caraway Seed Bread,
- Chicken Breast, Horseradish Cream, White Bread
- Scottish Salmon, Lemon Butter, Rye Bread
- Egg Mayonnaise, Chopped Shallots, Watercress, White Bread

Traditional British Scones
- Freshly Baked Raisin and Plain Scones with
- Cornish Clotted Cream and Strawberry Preserve

And an Assortment of British Afternoon Tea Pastries and Cake

    

It came out beautifully, presented on a three-tiered stand, with the sandwiches presented at the bottom and the delicate pastries and cake (including my absolute favourite macaroons!) on the top.  The scones came separately with a make-your-own feel of plain/raisin scones with glass pots of mouthwatering clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam.  I wanted to dive in but I had to do so slowly (like everyone else), I have to admit looking at the size of sandwiches and food I was a little taken back by how small the selection was, little did I know that it would be more than enough.  The sandwiches were perfectly cut into rectangular shapes, no crust (yay!) and each filled perfectly with the delegated fillings! I tried them all with my favourites being the cucumber & cream cheese and egg mayonnaise and the not-so-nice being the salmon one! 

The Afternoon Tea package was exactly as it should be as described by Jane Pettigrew in her blog on A Social History of Tea which described it as follows "the table was laid...there were the best things with a fat pink rose of the side of each cup; hearts of lettuce, thin bread and butter, and the crisp little cakes that had been baked in readiness that morning".  As I got through my afternoon tea slowly but steadily I genuinely became very full by the end of it, and there was plenty left over.  I became aware of why those who regularly partake in fine dining experiences which over decades were that of the upper-class would engage in smaller portions and eat them slowly and get just as full as when I ate an extra large Zinger Burger meal from KFC!  The atmosphere around me was not one that I was used to but made perfect sense for why Victorian food culture was as it was and why it worked. 

In Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell there is a tea party scene which brings together a set of upper-middle class people saw a the narrator Mary Smith having a similar abundance of thoughts as I did at my experience.  "The tea-tray was abundantly loaded— I was pleased to see it, I was so hungry; but I was afraid the ladies present might think it vulgarly heaped up. I know they would have done at their own houses; but somehow the heaps disappeared here."  Smith feels slightly guilty that she was pleased to see the tray so filled up and is socially aware that this is only due to the presence of others.  Her response to Mrs Jamieson's kind indulgence into the "customs of high life" by eating three large pieces of seed-cake was described humourously as "not unlike a cow's".  When in public it is inevitable that the mass of us will indulge a lot more politely due to the certain etiquette expectations of people around us particularly dependant on the crowd around us.  Like Smith, I was socially aware of those in my presence and subsequently matched them in order to fit in.  The presentation of food being light options of a delicate manner reflected on the way I ate too and presents an important notice that the way food looks reflects on how we eat it.