Dining With Duvall: Tastes of Gilded Age

Lynn Duvall

When Edward VII ascended the English throne in 1901, his personal tastes strongly influenced fashion, food and culture. Like his mother, Queen Victoria, Edward’s name came to be the descriptor for the era during which he ruled.

Edward adored the mature female figure; the Edwardian era is the last epoch where the hourglass shape was considered ideal. Women tortured themselves into corsets to achieve the correct appearance.

A personal maid was essential to help the society lady into her corset and to assist with an amazing series of undergarments, petticoats, stockings and ties. By the time a lady was ready to pull on her gloves and outer coat, she could barely bend over. The maid had to button her boots.

Celebrities, popular actresses and singers, set fashion trends just as they do today. I mistakenly believed an actress, draped in borrowed jewels and a designer evening gown, posed on the red carpet for photos, was a relatively new phenomenon. Not so.

Constance Collier, the first singing Gaiety Girl, wrote that Edwardian society hostesses wondered how she could dress so extravagantly on a small salary. She confessed that a dressmaker, whom she much admired, would lend her cloaks and gowns and a jeweler would allow her to borrow anything she liked from his shop.

Edwardian women not only wore tight corsets but they lived under a strict regimen of etiquette, demanding rules and time-consuming rituals. As the epoch came to an end, the strings were loosened both on the corsets and in the women’s daily lives. They gained the vote and their freedom from a complex web of elaborate dress, décor and entertainments.

The customs and styles of the Edwardian era never enjoyed resurgence in the 20th century.

The close of America’s Gilded Age coincided with Edward’s reign. In 1906, the Feynes family of Pasadena hosted entertainments in the same elaborate fashion as their counterparts in Edwardian England. This year, the Pasadena Museum of History celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Feynes Mansion. The museum has partnered with Pasadena chefs and the Culinary Historians of Los Angeles to present an evening of education and entertainment, “In the Grand Manner: Tastes of the Gilded Age.”

When the event’s participants arrive at the museum on Oct. 3 they will be greeted by historians in period dress. As they sip a welcome punch, Walter and Sheila Nelson will tutor the guests in Edwardian dining etiquette.

The tour will continue through learning and tasting stations set up in the exhibit halls, winding through the mansion gardens and into the mansion. Oysters are on the menu, along with soup, and entrée samples typical of the 15 course meals served in those days. For dessert, fruit, cheese and sherry will follow warm berries in vanilla sauce.

The guests can peek into the kitchen and pantry of the mansion. They will learn how to set a proper Edwardian dining table from Laura Verlaque, collections manager for the museum.

“Tastes of the Gilded Age” partners include two executive chefs — Denis Depoitre, the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and Christina Felippa, the Raymond Restaurant. The Holly Street Bar and Grill contributed the talents of Humberto Padilla, master chef and Leslie Hamilton, sommelier. Eve Otaola chairs the event for the Culinary Historians of Los Angeles with assistance from members Helen Allen and Joan Nielsen Castle.

Diane Siegel, who coordinates exhibitions and volunteers at the museum, invites Foothill residents to make reservations for this unique experience by calling (626) 577-1600 ext. 10 by Sept. 26.

For Valley Sun readers, Diane emailed a few recipes from the close of the Edwardian era. If you read them closely, you will recognize that kiss pudding is a tasty custard dessert; the refreshing drink is a non-alcoholic mojito and the macaroon whip is a fun, easy way to dress up bananas.

The Pasadena Museum of History and Feynes Mansion, 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena.

Write Lynn Duvall at https://boblynn@ix.netcom.com or in care of the Valley Sun, P.O. Box 38, La Canada Flintridge, CA 91012.