DANIEL LEAL/Pool via REUTERSState banquets are shrinking. Christophe Marguin, a French chef, is selling 4,000 menus from banquets hosted by French heads of state, going back 155 years. In 1913, King George V of Britain was greeted on a state visit with 12 courses including “trout, lamb, foie gras, young Bresse chickens with pike stuffing, and hams glazed with Marsala,” The Times of London reported. George’s great-grandson Charles III, on his French jolly last autumn, was served a mere four courses, including lobster, chicken, cheese, and a macaroon. Other notable banquets include an 18-courser served to Edward VII in 1904: Marguin said that in those days, banquets lasted four or five hours, while now if people take longer than 45 minutes they risk seeing their plates taken away. |