Hands, knives and forks
Eating at a medieval table
How people really ate at a medieval banquet, from knives and spoons to bread plates and shared bowls, and why Sir Lancelot gives you no fork.
Book your table at Sir Lancelot ↗Why there is no fork
The restaurant's menu page jokes that while the cook prepares your feast you should wash your hands well, since the servant will not provide a fork. It is a tongue-in-cheek instruction, but it matches how medieval banquets worked. You are not being asked to do anything strange. For most of the Middle Ages, in most of Europe, diners ate with their hands, with a knife and with a spoon. Think of it as joining a tradition rather than breaking a rule.
Knives, spoons and fingers
Diners took food from shared dishes with spoons or with their hands. Most people were expected to bring their own knife, and a knife was usually shared with at least one other guest. Only the most favoured guests were handed one. Carving meat for the people next to you and breaking bread for them was standard, so the table was a shared activity as much as a meal.
Trenchers and shared bowls
Food was mostly served on plates or in stew pots, and diners placed their portions on trenchers, which were made of stale bread, wood or pewter. In poorer households people often ate straight off the table. Meals were ideally communal, with the whole household, servants included, eating together. That is the picture a medieval-themed dinner tries to suggest, with long tables, big portions and plenty of noise.
Washing your hands
Wealthy guests were offered shallow basins and linen towels to wash their hands before the meal and between dishes. It is a custom that the restaurant's joke about washing your hands seems to echo. Etiquette also reinforced rank: lower-ranked people helped higher-ranked ones, younger people assisted elders, and drinking cups were often shared at lavish banquets, except at the high table.
Feasts as theatre
A banquet was also a performance. On fish days, banquets served illusion food, such as fish moulded to look like venison and fake eggs made from stuffed eggshells. Swans and peafowl were prized as entertainment dishes for how they looked more than for their meat. A medieval-themed dinner with swordsmen and jugglers is therefore in the spirit of the original, even if the details differ.
What people drank
Alcohol was preferred over water, which had low prestige and purity concerns, and it was drunk throughout the day. In the south, wine was common for rich and poor alike, though commoners often drank cheap second-pressing wine. In the north, beer was the commoner's drink and wine an expensive import. A welcome shot and a draft beer, as the booking offers, is a modest echo of that habit. Say so before you book if the idea of eating by hand puts you off.
When the fork arrived
The personal table fork was most likely invented in the Byzantine Empire, where it was in common use by the 4th century. It became increasingly common in Italy from the 11th century and commonplace there by the 14th. Forks reached common use in southwestern Europe only by the 16th century, and the rest of Europe is said to have adopted them much later, which makes a fork at a medieval Hungarian table unlikely.
What to do on the night
Treat it as part of the entertainment. Wash your hands, keep a napkin close, wear sleeves you do not mind, and share when you want to. The portions are large, so you will not go hungry. If the idea of eating with your hands puts you off, say so before you book, because it is a defining feature of the evening and the restaurant does not apologise for it.
Sources