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Video: Laureate Menu: Secrets of the Banquet Honoring Nobel Prize Winners
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The Nobel Prize ceremony is held annually on December 10 in Stockholm. All awards, except for the Peace Prize, are presented by the King of Sweden, and after the award ceremony, all laureates and their guests are invited to a special Nobel Banquet. The menu of the banquet, which has been held since 1901, has never been repeated, and the entire course of the gala dinner has been verified to the second, and the timing of its holding has never been violated.
According to the protocol
The entire Nobel Prize ceremony is in strict accordance with the protocol written many years ago. And, if the solemn ceremony of presenting awards thanks to television can be seen by anyone, then, naturally, no one broadcasts from the banquet. The banquet is no less interesting than the presentation of awards.
Nobel Prize winners are allowed to take a maximum of 16 guests to the gala dinner. Their list and number are negotiated in advance. The king and queen of Sweden, members of the ruling family, members of the government, as well as students are always present at the banquet. For the latter, a special raffle is held, in which students of Swedish universities, regardless of citizenship, can participate.
Naturally, there is a strict dress code for the participants in the ceremony and dinner. For women it is a long evening dress of any style, for men it is an indispensable tuxedo, white shirt and bow tie.
Accurate to the millimeter
The banquet always takes place in the Blue Hall of the City Hall and is attended by about 1,500 people. About 7 days before the banquet, fresh flowers and ready-made compositions from the Italian San Remo arrive. The choice of the city for the delivery of flowers is far from accidental, because it was in San Remo that Alfred Nobel's villa was located, where he spent the last years of his life and which he called nothing else but Mio Nido - “my nest”. To decorate the Blue Hall of the Town Hall, 20 containers of a wide variety of colors are used. After the banquet, they are all transported to Swedish hospitals and nursing homes.
Waiters start rehearsals a week before the main banquet. Senior waiters are a kind of foremen. They always have a conductor's baton and a stopwatch in their hands, and next to them there are special tablets with diagrams, arrows and special icons.
Not a single person serving a banquet has the right to make unnecessary movements, as this can lead to a failure of the entire system. It is not for nothing that stewards, with a ruler in their hands, arrange all the dishes: the distance between glasses, plates and cutlery is kept up to a millimeter. Chairs are placed in the same way, at a certain distance from the table. At the same time, exactly 60 centimeters are allocated for each guest at the table.
Finest hour or chef's nightmare
The gala dinner menu is never repeated; until December 10, it is kept in the strictest confidence. And a few days after the ceremony, you can not only get to know him, but also try. To do this, you will have to visit the “Town Hall Cellar”, a restaurant located in the building of the city hall, where, at the request of the client, they can prepare everything that has been honored since 1901.
Two months before the ceremony, culinary experts submit three options for the festive menu for approval to the members of the Nobel Committee. But even after approval, work continues to clarify the individual nutritional conditions of the laureates. You must not allow a guest who is allergic to any product to get an allergen on the plate, a vegetarian will not be served meat in any case, and a Jew will be specially prepared kosher food.
Despite the fact that about one and a half thousand people are present at the banquet, it is considered unacceptable to reheat dishes, therefore, the serving of dishes is organized so that from the moment the first waiter appears at the door of the Blue Hall, until the last guest is served, exactly two minutes pass. An exception is made only for ice cream. It is served for three minutes, and even then only because its removal is accompanied by a parade with candles and sparklers. At the same time, ice cream is a must-have dessert, only its taste and presentation change.
Dinner is prepared by 20 best chefs, 200 waiters ensure the serving, 8 managers coordinate the actions of the entire staff, 5 sommeliers are responsible for serving alcohol. Plus dishwashers, utility kitchen workers. In addition to the main employees, spare ones are necessarily provided. If the cook or the waiter suddenly becomes ill, which is quite acceptable with such tension, then another person will immediately take his place. All this in order to strictly observe the timing.
A special service for the ceremony was ordered in 1991, for the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. It can rightfully be called a work of art. The only tea cup in the set was made personally for Princess Liliana, who does not drink coffee.
At 18-45 all guests are already at their places. Exactly at 19-00, the guests of honor ceremoniously enter the hall in full accordance with the table of ranks. The first are the king and queen. In this case, the king is leading a woman, a laureate of the prize in physics, if there is one, if not, then the wife of the laureate in physics. The Queen invariably enters the hall accompanied by the Chairman of the Nobel Committee.
The first toast sounds at 19-05 and it is always for the king. The second toast is in memory of Alfred Nobel, followed by the obligatory organ composition. After the banquet, exactly at 22-15, the Nobel Ball begins in the Golden Hall, and at 1-30 the event ends.
Founder of the Nobel Prize, world famous Swedish chemist, engineer, industrialist, philanthropist Alfred Nobel founded 93 factories in 20 countries, was the author of 355 patented inventions, including dynamite, barometer, refrigerator, gas meter, speed switch. However, he was called a millionaire in blood and a merchant in death. There were many paradoxes in his life: a peace prize was established with the money received from the deadly invention.
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