A lazy Susan is a turntable (rotating tray) placed on a table or countertop to aid in distributing food. Lazy Susans may be made from a variety of materials but are usually glass, wood, or plastic. They are circular and placed in the centre of a table to share dishes easily among diners. Owing to the nature of Chinese cuisine, especially dim sum, they are common at formal Chinese restaurants both in mainland China and abroad. In Chinese, they are known as 餐桌转盘 (t. 餐桌轉盤) (p cānzhuō zhuànpán) or "dinner-table turntables".
It is likely that the explanation of the term "lazy Susan" has been lost to history. [1] [2] [3] Folk etymologies claim it as an American invention. According to lore, Thomas Jefferson invented the device, which was known as a "dumbwaiter", for his daughter Susan. Regardless of the origins of the name, by 1917 it was advertised in Vanity Fair [4] as "Ovington's $8.50 mahogany 'Revolving Server or Lazy Susan'", [5] but the term's use predates both the advertisement and, probably, the country. [1] [3]
Part of the mystery arises from the variety of devices that were grouped under the term "dumb waiter" (today written dumbwaiter). An early 18th-century British article in The Gentleman's Magazine describes how silent machines had replaced garrulous servants at some tables [6] and, by the 1750s, Christopher Smart was praising the "foreign" but discreet devices in verse. [7] It is, however, almost certain that the devices under discussion were wheeled serving trays similar to those introduced by Thomas Jefferson to the United States from France, [8] where they were known as étagères. [8] At some point during or before the third quarter of the 18th century, the name dumb waiter also began to be applied to rotating trays. [1] (Jefferson never had a lazy Susan at Monticello, but he did construct a box-shaped rotating book stand and, as part of serving "in the French style", employed a revolving dining-room door whose reverse side supported a number of shelves. [9] ). By the 1840s, Americans were applying the term to small lifts carrying food between floors as well. [1] The success of George W. Cannon's 1887 mechanical dumbwaiter popularised this usage, replacing the previous meanings of "dumbwaiter".
The lazy Susan was initially uncommon enough in the United States for the utopianist Oneida Community to be credited with its invention. They employed the devices as part of their practice of communal living, making food easily and equally available to residents and visitors at meals. [10] An American patent was issued in 1891 to Elizabeth Howell for "certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Waiting Tables". Howell's device ran more smoothly and did not permit bread crumbs to fall into the space between the lazy Susan and the table. [11]
Despite various folk etymologies linking the name to Jefferson's and Edison's daughters, the earliest use of these "serviettes" or "butler's assistants" [13] [10] being called a lazy Susan dates to the 1903 Boston Journal :
John B. Laurie, as the resuscitator of "Lazy Susan", seems destined to leap into fortune as an individual worker. "Lazy Susan" is a step toward solving the ever-vexing servant problem. She can be seen, but not heard, nor can she hear, she simply minds her business and carries out your orders in a jiffy.
Laurie was a Scottish carpenter who made his "lazy Susan" to the personal specifications of a Hingham-area woman. Unfortunately he presented this gift to her too late, which caused her to unleash an abusive tirade upon Laurie. When she finally asked him for the price, he "told her it wasn't for sale, though of course it is". [14] [10] The name was repeated in a 1911 Idaho Statesman article – which describes it as "a cousin to the 'curate's assistant', as the English muffin stand is called" [15] [10] – and again in the 1912 Christian Science Monitor , which calls the "silver" lazy Susan "the characteristic feature of the self-serving dinner table". [16] By the next year, the Lima Daily News described an Ohioan "inaugurat[ing] ... the 'Lazy Susan' method of serving". [17] Henry Ford used an enormous one on his camping trips in the 1920s to avoid bringing a full contingent of servants along with his guests. [3] In 1933, the term was added to the Webster's Dictionary. [18]
Unusually, the 1916 American Cookery describes the device as a German invention: [19] [10]
There is a table arrangement used much in Germany, which has now found its way to America, though it is still by no means common. The German frau calls it "Lazy Susan", but it is entirely different from our product used for salt and pepper shakers. Its only point of similarity is the swivel upon which it turns. The one which joys my heart is of mahogany, and it turns automatically at the slightest touch. It contains seven china dishes, six of which are trapezoids, the center one being octagonal. The trapezoids fit about the center octagon, forming a perfect whole.
By 1918, Century Magazine was already describing the lazy Susan as out of fashion, [20] but beginning in the 1950s its popularity soared once again after the redesign and reintroduction of the lazy Susan by George Hall, an engineer, soy sauce manufacturer, and partner in popular San Francisco-area Chinese restaurants (Johnny Kan's, Ming's of Palo Alto and John Ly's Dining), and the rotating tray became ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants and was used in homes around the globe. [21] The decline in America's domestic service sector after World War I and its collapse following World War II, [22] combined with the post-war Baby Boom, led to a great demand for them in US households across the country in the 1950s and 1960s. This popularity has had the effect, however, of making them seem kitsch in subsequent decades. [3]
The term is infrequently used for the much older turntables employed in pottery wheels and related tasks like sculpture, modeling, repair work, etc. [23]
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models ranging from inexpensive fast-food restaurants and cafeterias to mid-priced family restaurants, to high-priced luxury establishments.
Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 14. Located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Piedmont region, the plantation was originally 5,000 acres (20 km2), with Jefferson using the forced labor of Black slaves for extensive cultivation of tobacco and mixed crops, later shifting from tobacco cultivation to wheat in response to changing markets. Due to its architectural and historic significance, the property has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1987, Monticello and the nearby University of Virginia, also designed by Jefferson, were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The United States nickel has featured a depiction of Monticello on its reverse since 1938.
An hors d'oeuvre, appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or they may be served before seating, such as at a reception or cocktail party. Formerly, hors d'oeuvres were also served between courses. There are two types of hors d'oeuvre from service point of view:
A tray is a shallow platform designed for the carrying of items. It can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, paperboard, wood, melamine, and molded pulp. Trays range in cost from inexpensive molded pulp trays which are disposable and inexpensive melamine trays used in cafeterias, to mid-priced wooden trays used in a home, to expensive silver trays used in luxury hotels. Some examples have raised galleries, handles, and short feet for support.
Yum cha is the Cantonese tradition of breakfast or brunch involving Chinese tea and dim sum. The practice is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions, including Guangdong province, Guangxi province, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Cantonese communities. Yum cha generally involves small portions of steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried dim sum dishes served in bamboo steamers, which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. People often go to yum cha in large groups for family gatherings and celebrations.
Waiting staff (BrE), waiters / waitresses, or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food and drink as requested. Waiting staff follow rules and guidelines determined by the manager. Waiting staff carry out many different tasks, such as taking orders, food-running, polishing dishes and silverware, helping bus tables, entertaining patrons, restocking working stations with needed supplies, and handing out the bill.
The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by Harold Pinter written in 1957.
A carousel slide projector is a slide projector that uses a rotary tray to store slides, used to project slide photographs and to create slideshows. It was first patented on May 11, 1965, by David E. Hansen of Fairport, New York. Hansen was an industrial designer at the Eastman Kodak Company. A patent for the rotary tray was granted in 1966 after a 1962 application by the Eastman Kodak Company.
A buffet can be either a sideboard or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of service à la française, buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price, but some measure prices by weight or by number of dishes. Buffets usually have some or mostly hot dishes, so the term cold buffet has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, such as cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.
Tableware items are the dishware and utensils used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. The term includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, serving utensils, and other items used for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects varies according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine and occasion. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, using bread or leaves as individual plates, and not infrequently without use of cutlery. Special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware.
A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator.
A supper club is a traditional dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all. In the 2010s, a newer usage of the term supper club emerged, referring to underground restaurants.
John Hemmings was an American woodworker. Born into slavery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello as a member of the large mixed-race Hemings family, he trained in the Monticello Joinery and became a highly skilled carpenter and woodworker, making furniture and crafting the fine woodwork of the interiors at Monticello and Poplar Forest.
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
Comedy of menace is the body of plays written by David Campton, Nigel Dennis, N. F. Simpson, and Harold Pinter. The term was coined by drama critic Irving Wardle, who borrowed it from the subtitle of Campton's play The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace, in reviewing Pinter's and Campton's plays in Encore in 1958.
A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator or lift intended to carry food. Dumbwaiters found within modern structures, including both commercial, public and private buildings, are often connected between multiple floors. When installed in restaurants, schools, hospitals, retirement homes or private homes, they generally terminate in a kitchen.
Customs and etiquette in Chinese dining are the traditional behaviors observed while eating in Greater China. Traditional Han customs have spread throughout East Asia to varying degrees, with some regions sharing a few aspects of formal dining, which has ranged from guest seating to paying the bill.
Israel Jefferson, known as Israel Gillette before 1844, was born a slave at Monticello, the plantation estate of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. He worked as a domestic servant close to Jefferson for years, and also rode with his brothers as a postilion for the landau carriage.
Safetray is a brand name for a retractable finger receiver incorporated into the underside of a round wait staff tray to assist in handling the tray when carrying food and drinks for service in the hospitality industry. The handclip design provides leverage, helping to prevent toppling. The Safetray, invented in 2009, is now sold worldwide by Edinburgh-based Safetray Products Ltd.
A serving cart is a kind of smaller food cart. It is typically used by restaurants to deliver or display food.