The table, however, should not be cluttered. Dishes are not filled to the brim. Serving sizes vary by age and gender, with more food offered to men and less to older people.
When preparing dishes, it is assumed that any piece can be easily picked up using chopsticks. To do this, remove the bones from the products and cut them into small portions.
The Japanese prefer to use an odd number of dishes, dishes and portions. Five colors can be combined on one plate, which symbolize the tastes that go together (usually the five colors are black (the color of noria seaweed) and brown, green, yellow and red (the colors of fish, vegetables and sauces). White rice is served in glossy dark bowls .
Square plates are placed in a diamond shape and complemented with round bowls. Round-shaped treats are served on square plates or rectangular trays.
When decorating a Japanese-style table, consumers pay attention to details and try to create beautynaturalness and grace. They also follow the principle of seasonality: eat foods when they are the freshest, most tasty and healthy.
They eat from the Japanese table in any order, but it is customary to start with a small lump of rice.
Before starting the meal, a damp oshibori towel is provided to wipe the face. In winter, spring and autumn it should be heated, and in summer it can be cold.
The Japanese eat at a low table standing on a wooden floor covered with a tatami (rug). Instead of chairs, they use zabuton - a flat cushion, sometimes with a wooden back.
Chinese serving implies restraint: contrasts, bright and colorful cutlery are not used, the color scheme of dishes is kept in restrained, similar and calm tones. Blue and white colors are often used. The table can be decorated with various masterfully cut products.
Common dishes are placed in the center of the table, and unleavened rice is placed in individual bowls. Each person sitting at the table adds what he liked best from the common dish into his own bowl and eats it, mixed with rice.
Often the table is rotating and then those sitting at it can scroll through it and choose dishes from all those presented behind it.
A Chinese meal takes place in peace, serenity, and quiet, unhurried conversations. Nothing should interrupt the eating process.
Chinese cuisine involves the use of a large number of herbs, seasonings, and spices.
A Chinese meal begins with a cup of aromatic green tea, continues with soft dishes, and ends with liquid dishes, soups, and broths.
The Chinese, like the Japanese, eat with chopsticks.
Italian serving has its own specific features. The tablecloth can be ordinary, but in Italian national colors: green, white and red. Regular napkins can be the same color (either white or pastel shades). Instead of napkins, you can use straw stands. Water and wine of average quality are served in decanters. Good wine - in an original bottle. Olive oil and vinegar are placed on the table in beautiful vessels. In a large basket there are buns or bread already cut into thick slices, which is not cut at the table, but broken into pieces. In the center of the table is a bouquet of fresh flowers. You can also place a decoration of dry pasta on the table, tied with a ribbon in traditional national colors.
The use of vintage items is encouraged at the Italian table.silver dishes. In noble Italian families, forks were placed with the tines down so that the family coat of arms, which was on the back of the handle, was visible.
Snacks will look very original if they are laid out in the geographical shape of Italy. For example, consumers can cut out the famous Parma ham.
The most popular Italian dish is pasta (various pasta products). The pasta is served on a large platter when the guests are already sitting at the table. Like risotto, pasta is a first course.
Italians consume a lot of tomatoes, basil, and dry wine.
In general, Italians value simple and natural food.
It is worth keeping in mind that superstitious Italians do not pass the salt shaker from hand to hand. And one more thing: ashtrays are not placed on the Italian table.
Hawaiian table setting is gaining more and more popularity every year. A characteristic feature of its serving is the presence of garlands of leis (flower garlands - beads). You can weave them yourself using threads, fresh flower heads, feathers, leaves, shells, dried flowers, candies, candy wrappers, etc.
The tablecloth and napkins should be bright colors. Instead, if possible, it is better to use banana (or similar) leaves.
You should place a decorative or artificial palm tree in the center of the table. It can also be made from tropical fruits, for example, from pineapples, by cutting out their middle, top and bottom, and attaching them to each other. You can surround such a palm tree with other fruits and cut out pieces of the same pineapples.
For drinks, instead of traditional glasses, you can use coconut halves, decorating them with cocktail umbrellas and straws.
The Hawaiian table is always fun, music, loud conversations accompanied by, in general, simple food.
Bright, original, cozy - Italian style!Italian style is a type of country style- very cozy and expressive.
Dishes in this style are characterized by rather thick, deliberately simple ceramic ware. Such dishes have practically no sharp corners, they are softly smoothed, and the dish itself has a soft rounded shape. Usually it is covered with bright, colorful, somewhat naive paintings and ornaments in "rural spirit". These can be floral and vegetable ornamental motifs depicting the gifts of the Italian land; they can also be pastoral motifs that convey the characteristics of the national color and way of life.
Country style
appeared in England approximately at the beginning of the last century.
This is a generalized image that does not have a specific “nationality”. Decorative elements of the style depend on the coloring of a particular country - Italy, France, Russia, Germany, England, Norway. But regardless of geography, the essence of country is “country style”.
Porcelain dishes in this style are distinguished by slightly muted multi-colors, still lifes, paintings of village life and rural motifs.
Colors and shades of dishes in Italian style
Ocher, terracotta, sunny yellow, creamy, baked milk tones, brick-chocolate, copper, copper-green and olive tones dominate. These are paints that convey fertility, abundance, prosperity and warmth of the sunny Italian land and the Mediterranean. As a rule, dishes in the Italian style are made by hand, or imitate handwork, as if they were created by the caring hands of a craftsman living next door. White color is less typical for Italian tableware; if it is used, it is mostly as an addition. It is applied to a bluish-white glaze or to a light blue and dark blue background.
When setting the table with Italian style dishes, you can use textile- linen or cotton large-woven napkins and hand towels (small hand towels), decorated with embroidery. You can use small ceramic holders and clips for napkins - it will look very beautiful and stylish.
Living garden plants will add a special flavor to a table decorated in Italian style. flowers or fruits, placed in vases - lemons, oranges, pears, grapes, and even red onions, small zucchini and pumpkins. In Italy, dishes are usually stored in hanging open racks made of wood. They can also be decorated with small porcelain figurines or figurines. Either way, pay more attention to detail and color. It’s the little things and accessories that will make your table, and therefore the image of your kitchen, more complete.
At the table in Italy, important deals are concluded, grandiose weddings are played, modest birthdays and magnificent anniversaries are celebrated. Even local sayings like a tavola prese moglie un frate (“a monk got married at a table in company”) or a tavola ci si invecchia(“they grow old at the table”) clearly illustrate the epic duration of typical Italian feasts.
Therefore, it is not surprising that it was in Italy, with the love for beauty, large companies and good cuisine genetically embedded in the country’s inhabitants, that the very concept of “the joy of feasting” (gioie della tavola) could appear. And table setting can transform into a real art worthy of imitation!
Enterprising Italians even published a kind of “encyclopedia” of advice for all occasions called Galateo. Among the sensible recommendations regarding behavior, clothing and manners of conversation, which are sometimes still followed in the Apennines, there were also recommendations for serving - all from the pen of the Florentine priest and writer Monsignor Giovanni della Casa.
And the Italian “Domostroy” owes such an unusual name - Galateo - to the friend of the book’s author, the priest Galeazzo (in the Latin manner of Galatheus) Florimonte, known in that era for his impeccable manners and subtle taste.
But, of course, neither the manners of the Italians nor the table setting were always impeccable - they came to perfection in Italy gradually. For example, in the same Ancient Rome they did not know forks, and women were instructed to gracefully (!) take food with their hands, trying not to get dirty... And an ordinary napkin has experienced a real evolution since the times of the Ancient Roman Empire: from a bundle in which guests were taken home remnants of a dinner party, to a practical accessory that has become an indispensable decorative element of any tastefully set table. You ask, what is special about Italian table settings? Here are a few golden rules that are usually followed in Italy:
1. Tablecloth and napkins. It is better if they are the same color, preferably white or one of the pastel shades (Italians generally prefer light colors). Napkins are placed to the left of the dishes; for informal dinners, it is also permissible to place the napkin to the right of the dish or directly on the plates (if the napkin is equipped with a special ring or decorative ribbon).
It is curious that among the older generation of women in Italy, the most luxurious tablecloths are still considered to be those made from Flemish linen (a historical region in the territory of modern France, Belgium and the Netherlands).
2. Devices. If you inherited a set of silver cutlery from your grandmother, then quickly take it out of your chest: silver, especially vintage silver, has always been held in high esteem in Italy.
Consider using a fork and knife for each new dish. If you are serving fish appetizers, then place a special fork for the fish first on the left side of the dish; a fish knife, more like a scoop, should always lie to the right of a regular knife. If you are serving soup, do not forget about tablespoons; if you are preparing a creamy dessert, do not forget about miniature dessert spoons. Unusual utensils, for example, for game or snails, are usually served separately on a tray, directly with the unusual dish.
It is curious that in noble Italian families it was customary to place forks with the tines down so that the family coat of arms, which decorated the handle of the forks on the reverse side, was visible.
3. Plates. Ideally, all the plates will be white and only the decorative dishes underneath them will be made of silver. Galateo allows the table to be served exclusively with dessert plates and dishes for the second, suggesting that the soup will be served in deep plates directly to the table.
It is curious that in Italy many people often and mistakenly serve pasta (which, like risotto, is considered the first course in the Apennines) in deep plates, when regular dishes should be used.
You can read about glasses, accessories, a bread plate and the Italian secret of an elegant table in the original article
Italy is sun and sea, it is smiles and family meals, it is wine, cheese and olives. Such Italy, joyful and relaxed, settled in our apartment for one evening.
I share my design work and open an Italian playlist. I show you what the appetizer table had and give you a full tour of the menu.
The main character of the evening is the table with food. Before filling it with delicious food, let's give it a light touch of Italy.
Small flags for decorating snacks. Making these flags will take a little time and patience. Print out a template for flags on a color printer, cut out the required number of blanks, fold in half and secure with a toothpick using double-sided tape.
It’s good to think in advance about how guests will sit at the festive table. Help here name cards. You can, like me, play with the names of the guests and write them in Italian style.
So, my guest Yulia Lipina turned into Giulietta LIPPI for one evening, and the birthday boy - Sergei Maslov - was called Sergio Masleroni.
Cards with original names will immediately arouse the interest of guests, help them relax, and find common topics for jokes and conversations.
Especially for the party, I compiled a list of songs by Italian performers, as well as tracks that are somehow associated with Italy.
The music program included such performers as Adriano Celentano, the band Ricchi E Poveri, as well as music from the popular films “Roman Holiday”, “The Godfather”, “Letters to Juliet”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “La Dolce Vita” ).
My playlist is available on the Yandex.Music service at this link
Yandex. Music. allows you to create a playlist from the desired songs and then play them either one by one or in random order. Important: Internet access is required to listen.
It’s good to turn on the music before the guests arrive, so that you can feel the atmosphere yourself.
All the dishes presented below either have Italian roots or are in one way or another associated with Italian cuisine. Follow the links to find detailed recipes with step-by-step photos. Please note that the recipes are adapted to Russian reality. Choose the ones you like and combine the menu for your Italian party.
Serve with honey, apricot jam, nuts, pear and figs. Important! The cheese should be at room temperature, so remove it from the refrigerator 1 hour before guests arrive.
Fish plate. Italy is all about fish and seafood. Therefore, it is logical to serve a “pickled” fish plate. It is good to dilute the traditional cut of red fish with other tasty fish. I recommend butterfish, hot smoked terpus, smoked mackerel with spices.
Olives and black olives. No comments.
Meat plate. It's good to move away from traditional smoked sausages and carbonates. If Italian Prosciutto isn't your thing, look for turkey carpaccio and sliced salami.
Caprese salad. A great light salad that can also be prepared in 5 minutes. During the winter months, use cherry tomatoes (they are sweet and tasty all year round). I also highly recommend making your own homemade pesto - it's amazing.
Panzanella Salad. Classic Tuscan salad with aromatic tomatoes, sweet roasted peppers and dressing with anchovies and capers.
Each ingredient was decorated with a nameplate.
Download the sign template
Depending on the number of guests, divide them into teams and give them a task - to prepare a pizza that the birthday person will like. The winner is announced accordingly by the hero of the occasion, and the Pizza Master is awarded a prize.
When preparing for a romantic dinner, family lunch, meeting of relatives or a festive feast, you need to pay attention not only to creating a menu, but also to decorating the table. After all, deliciously prepared dishes will bring more positive emotions if they are beautifully decorated and served.
The choice of dishes of a particular cuisine of the world depends not only on the choice of ingredients necessary for their preparation, but also on the surroundings that recreate the atmosphere of this country. The French have a wonderful expression “art de vivre”, which means “the art of living”, which refers not only to life itself, but also to the ability to cook and the ability to beautifully set the table. If you want to cook French cuisine, then the most relevant would be to use bone china, the distinctive feature of which is very thin and even lines, or classic porcelain with original edges of the plates. Table setting in the spirit of France involves the use of a large amount of silver. Cutlery made in the style of antique silver, the use of partial polishing will emphasize the taste and beauty of the served dishes. One of the dishes that the French love is cheese dessert, so there should be cutlery for eating it on the table. In addition, to add originality to your table setting, you can use spice sets.
If you want to recreate the atmosphere of life-loving Italy, then you should know that the culinary traditions of this country go back to antiquity. Italians believe that a feast should be conducive to lively conversation and not be rushed. The main feature of table setting in the spirit of Italy is the use of the Italian tricolor: green, white and red. Instead of traditional tablecloths, you can use fabric panels of these colors, placing them on the table so that they form the Italian flag. Napkins for table setting can also be used in green, white and red colors, placing them on fabric panels of a different color, for example green on red, white on green, red on white, or combining colors in a single color. Since the culinary symbol of Italy is pasta, its presence on the table is mandatory. It is better to serve it on a long narrow dish in green tones. To liven up the table, place a bouquet of flowers on it. In addition, you can use Italian spaghetti to serve the table. They can be placed in the form of a tent and tied with ribbon. Originally shaped figurines, decanters, vessels, candlesticks - all these decorative elements will add a special charm to table setting in the Italian style.
Japanese-style table setting is one of the most difficult, since the difference in European and Eastern traditions and customs is very large. When first introduced, Japanese cuisine is striking in its simplicity. According to the Japanese, delicious dishes should not only be a means of satisfying hunger, but also delight the eye, body and soul. The served dishes must look beautiful in order to bring aesthetic pleasure in their appearance, be aromatic and moderately hot or cold. The color scheme of the dishes consists of five colors: black, yellow, white, red and green. To recreate the atmosphere of Japan, it is necessary to take into account that the Japanese have their own colors for each season. This is reflected in the interior design and table setting. The change of seasons also affects the decoration of cooked dishes. In the winter season, blue tones are used, which are associated with snow. But white and red are festive colors that harmoniously fit into any interior. Also, the time of year should be reflected in the color of food, the shape and texture of utensils. At the same time, the main principles of Japanese art are asymmetry, free composition, and emptiness. All Japanese-style table decor elements should be positioned freely.
No matter what kind of cuisine you prefer, you can always bring your original ideas into
