I had a chance here to express my opinion to the future newlyweds about the banquet menu. Well, what - you asked yourself! True, they themselves were offended ...
Because their main requirement was "sophistication". Rather, the menu itself was made with a claim to delights, so that there would not be "like those stupid Soviet weddings according to the precepts of the Komsomol ancestors ", and I, an old stump, widening my eyes, asked: what is the menu is different?
I was not enough at Soviet weddings (to be honest - I was not at a conscious age at all), but I remember the approximate "banquet" menu that was offered at all celebrations, I can imagine. It was described for posterity more than once by contemporaries of those banquets, both by writers and screenwriters.
Several salads - "Olivier" or "Capital", "Mimosa", "Herring under a fur coat." Slicing: fish (with a good deal of several varieties of salted and smoked fish of noble breeds, with a bad one - herring with onions), meat (several types of meat delicacies and sausages), vegetable. Hot: either the notorious French-style meat, which was pushed wherever it was, and where not, and which had nothing to do with France, or baked chicken.
Now I am writing, and my acquaintances, who also remember Soviet weddings, tell me - sausages with stewed cabbage.
Moreover, the variations of this menu differed little from where the wedding banquet took place: in an apartment, in a factory or a school cafeteria, in a middle-class restaurant... Everything was put on the table at once, at best - the hot was brought out later.
Today, wedding feasts have remained the same. Judging by the composition of the products. Only salad instead of "Olivier" can be called "Tsarskoe" or "Princess", or something else (depending on which meat component instead of the standard for the USSR boiled sausage was used), "Herring under a fur coat" will not be made for you in layers, but all the ingredients will be cut into pieces and dubbed with some "Prince Eugene herring" (although in fact it is not even close to this appetizer lay). Oh yes, meat in French is now bashfully called "pork chop with cheese"... Or with a creamy sauce.
Well, and the main difference is that now “Caesar” has firmly settled on the tables among salads.
Sometimes in large salad bowls. Immediately refueled.
Therefore, the host side is very worried about this salad, and calls are heard every now and then at the table:
- Let's eat Caesar as soon as possible, otherwise the crackers will get wet!
Perhaps this is where the differences end. And the table, modern, by and large, is no different from the Soviet one ...
Here I will clarify: I'm not talking about very expensive protocol banquets organized by professional stewards, with a verified change of dishes and other delights. Alas, such a luxury is not available to the ordinary average citizen.