The protocol at the table, whether at home or in the restaurant, is a fundamental part of the search for experience in the world of gastronomy.
Years ago, in pre-revolutionary France, I was born in Belley, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, student of law, chemistry and medicine in Dijon, where mustard is art, was the first to bring to light a treatise on gastronomy called “The physiology of taste”
From his literary legacy we extract the best postulates and references in famous phrases such as:
“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are”; or “The pleasure of the table is typical of any age, class, nation and time; it can be combined with all other pleasures and subsists until the end to console us for the loss of others ”.
A clear exponent of the intentions that have led us to our days in what we know as the protocol at the table and art of good manners.
Experts in the field like the Uruguayan Rose Galfione, cook, sommelier and graduate in public relations, they teach us daily how and in what way the art of preparing a room should be undertaken in order to achieve the best sensory experience for a diner.
The table is the place where food will develop all its expressiveness, and without a suitable props, everything will be indifferent. Hence the need to know what are the secrets of the art of the table and the good host.
How to be the best host with these five tips?
For every meal or dinner to become a sensory experience, we need the diner to be in a special environment where the contact of the senses with it is based, in a simple and balanced way.
The 5 key points to act on are decoration, lighting, sound, temperature and smells.
- La Decoration, of the room or stay, it must be pleasant in the first visual contact so that the whole set of the elements that compose it are in perfect harmony.
- La Lighting Of all the space that surrounds the table, it must have a minimum of visibility so that the elements that are on the table can be perfectly distinguished and never go overboard with it to avoid reflections and flashes with the glass and metallic pieces. The manual regulation of the switches is key to be able to adapt it to each moment of the day.
- El Sound It is key to relax or mislead a diner, having in the music the best exponent of the cardiac rite of a diner, managing to focus the relaxing effect of the body on breathing, and thus through taste and smell, enjoy 100% of the food. It also fights the dead spaces of silence, so uncomfortable at the table.
- La Temperature It is another factor that is not usually taken into account in relation to food and we only think about the comfort of the room. It can be altered by the body temperature at the time of consumption, and the environment must be perfectly prepared to mitigate this effect. We cannot stay frozen when having a delicious cold dessert …
- Each filtering bag smells. The culminating point of a sensory exhibition around a table, seeking the perfect balance with the environment and the food so that it does not transform the tasting and causes differences in taste due to an excessive intrusion of the ambient aroma. Flowers and candles are the best accompaniment to a meal.
Dare to experience it, giving your room the necessary changes for diners to enjoy a unique sensory experience.