For the distaff side

[RJNorton]

With all the talk of food I thought I'd post the menu for Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural supper:

Oyster stews, terrapin stews, oysters pickled; beef - roast beef, filet deboeuf, beef a la mode, beef a l'anglais; veal - leg of veal, fricandeau, veal Malakoff; poultry - roast turkey, boned turkey, roast chicken; grouse - boned and roast; game - pheasant, quail, venison pates, pate of duck en gelee, pate de foie gras; smoked ham, tongue en gelee, tongue plain; salads, chicken, lobster; ornamental pyramids - nougat, orange, caramel with fancy cream candy, cocoanut, macaroon, croquant, chocolate; tree cakes - cakes and tarts, almond sponge, belle alliance, dame blanche, macaroon tart, tarte a la Nelson, tarte a l'Orleans, tarte a la Portugaise, tarte a la Vienne, pound cake, sponge cake, lady cake, fancy small cakes; jellies and creams - calf's foot and wine jelly, Charlotte a la Russe, Charlotte a la vanille, blanc mange, creme Neapolitaine, creme a la Nelson, creme Chateaubriand, creme a la Smyrna, creme a la Nesselrode, bombe a la vanille, ice cream - vanilla, lemon, white coffee, chocolate, burnt almond, maraschino; fruit ices, strawberry, orange, lemon; desert - grapes, almonds, raisons, coffee, and chocolate.

Carl Sandburg described it this way - Three hundred at a time could be accommodated at the feast table, but there were 5,000 guests at the supper. This created disorder - a "crush." Many were like one gentleman "with a large plate of food, requiring both hands to hold it, no place to sit down, and no way to eat it."