Charger plates or service plates are large plates used at
full-course dinners and/or to dress up special events like
parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
and
wedding
A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...
s. Charger plates have been in use since the 19th century.
North America
Food is not actually served on chargers; they are often called underplates or chop plates.
The word "charger" originated around 1275–1325 from the Middle English "chargeour", coming itself from the Latin word ''carricare'', meaning “to load". Formerly, a charger signified either a large platter or a large, shallow dish for liquids.
They are usually larger than most common dinner plates. Since they are not used for food, charger plates can be found in a variety of materials, from traditional china to metal, wood, glass, plastic, and pearl, and they may be decorated with substances that can be toxic if ingested.
Charger plate
etiquette
Etiquette ( /ˈɛtikɛt, -kɪt/) can be defined as a set of norms of personal behavior in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviors that accord with the conventions and ...
and use vary. Some professional
catering
Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major service ...
companies remove the decorative charger plate as soon as the guests are seated. In other instances, when the design of charger plates complements the design of dining plates, charger plates are left on the table throughout the course of the meal. Charger plates are always removed before serving desserts.
Europe
In ''
service à la russe
(; , ) is a style of serving food in which dishes are brought to the table sequentially and served separately to each guest. ''Service à la russe'' was developed in France in the 19th century by adapting traditional Russian table service to ex ...
'', charger plates are called service plates and are kept on the table during the initial courses. Service plates thus act as a base for soup bowls and salad plates. After the soup course is finished, both the soup bowl and service plate are removed from the table; a heated plate is put in their place. The fish and meat courses are served from
platters
The Platters are an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The act ...
. (This was not the case historically, nor is it often followed in restaurants.) Directly before dessert, everything is removed from the place settings except the wine and water glasses and crumbs are cleared. The rule is as such: a filled plate is always replaced with an empty one, and no place goes without a plate until just before the dessert course.
Culture
In
Mark 6
Mark 6 is the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. In this chapter, Jesus goes to Nazareth and experiences rejection by his own family. He then sends his Apostles in the New Testament, Ap ...
:25, KJV, and
Matthew 14
Matthew 14 is the fourteenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. It continues the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee and recounts the circumstances leading to the death of John the Baptist ...
:8, KJV, the
"daughter of Herodias" requested
John the Baptist
John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
's head in a “charger” from
Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas (, ''Hērṓidēs Antípas''; ) was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea. He bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both "Herod the Tetrarch" and "King Herod" in the New Testament. He was a s ...
as her reward for dancing at his birthday party. It was the subject of a
painting by artist
Andrea Solari
Andrea Solari (also Solario) (1460–1524) was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Milanese school. He was initially named ''Andre del Gobbo'', but more confusingly as ''Andrea del Bartolo''
a name shared with two other Italian painters, ...
.
See also
*
Table setting
Table setting (laying a Table (furniture), table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charger (Table Setting)
Serving vessels
Salome
John the Baptist
Herod Antipas