Formal Dining Room

Formal Dining Room

To draw attention to the shape of a meal,
to the form of eating, to performance in action,
one needs a formal dining room, a solid table
around which guests must be seated, facing in.

Food must leave the kitchen plated and plattered,
presented on silver or glass or china, and arranged
with care, like flowers. Food as choreography, as
calligraphy. Minimize the sounds of mouths,

of food being chewed, of wine being pulled
deep within the throat of the drinker. Take
eating away from the stomach, stick it in the brain,
in the eye. It is pleasing, there is nothing necessary

about it. There are rules to food, best practices
for consumption. If you drop your napkin, only then
may you look under the table, at the legs and feet
of your guests, straining towards eachother or away.