ok so today i want to address an urgent issue: buffette vs sit down pros and cons
so, sit down dinners looks nice, and they are fancy shmansy, and it may even look like more time and effort were put into the whole shabang, because each person is being taken care of individually, being served, plates and what not organized for each person.
where as in a buffet, it may seem more common, less classy, las vegas style entertaining...
but now the trade off... when you do a buffette, you can host more people, usually. why?
because people can eat standing up, they can rotate in the eating time, so people can sit and stand, and also, it is more ad hoc-ish in a way... more wild.
when you go sit down dinner, you are defacto limited to the amount of space around each table... granted, sit down dinner can also be served around several small tables, and not only around one big knights table... so... when you are going to entertain, i think that you really must take into consideration do you want a "high class" more exclusive event, or do you want a shmorgas board low class event... so, maybe it is more a matter of capitalism vs. communism... or maybe it is just impolite not to invite people, maybe it is i that am living in a dream land where i think people should be nice to one another... but maybe it is time to wake up and smell the sit down dinner... i am not living in a carpenters song... birds will not apear everytime you are near, lets face it karen carpenter is dead... maybe it is all a charade, or a facade... french words...
this may sound like an stupid entry, but, because my siblings and i weren't invited to a family event because there wasn't enough room for "the kids" table and it was a sit down event, it made me question my low class upbringing... maybe buffette's are wrong... maybe one cannot serve a french meal, going buffette... although, buffette is a french word...
what to do, what to do?
peace out - word
Lost in Translation
Me Myself and I
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4 comments:
Marxist sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (also French) has coined the term Habitus in his book Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. Habitus implies a kind of bubble, part conscious, part unconscious, in which each one of us lives. The music we like, the kind of furniture we think looks respectable, the kind of cloths we wear, the gestures we make, and yes, the type of dinners we organise, all derive from our Habitus. Habitus challenges free will; we don't really have much choice but to like what we like because this is how we were brought up, not only by our parents, but by our standing in society. However, we can also gain what Bourdieu calls Cultural Capital, which is not money, but prestige acquired through education, magazine subscriptions and sit-down-dinners (for example). Acquiring cultural capital makes you distinct (hance the name of the book, distinction), not in general, but from other social groups.
Now, in light of this, we must ask ourselves: was the sit-down a product of Habitus, or was it an attempt to gain cultural capital and draw a DISTINCTION between those who host sit-downs, and those who invite for buffets?
An anthropological remark about Israeli society: since for many of us, our grandparents generation broke away rather violently from their Habitus in Europe of North Africa (granted, leaving some tendencies, but distorting others), Israeli society has been busying itself with a frantic accumulation of cultural capital. People who didn't know what a napkin was growing up now order only the finest wine in the most expensive restraunts, people who's parents did kitchen duty in the kibbutz all their life instruct their third-world-country maid in french serving etiquette when hosting sit-down dinners for 12.
When I was growing up, when guest came over it was polite to serve Burekas, argaliyot and Elite instant coffee.
Today, depending on your status, it could be mini tartelettes from Arcafe, or perhaps some russian caviar with Fortnum and Mason crackers served with handcarved tortois-shell spoons.
But now that you have been described as a kid, you think you are going to get Lego for your birthday?
For the love of South-African-English-Teachers-Who-Do-Not-Use-The-Word-G-D, please use capital letters.
SOrry I'm such a nag, but honestly, these things piss me off to no end.
Damnit, Jim, I'm a Doctor, not a linguist.
screw you and your capitals, you cultural capital (punn intended) acquiring elitist swine.
let me get it right. you are actually complaining for not being invited to an anal event? how old are you?
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