On the Effort to Reclaim Community Tables (through Winter Feasts)

In the 17th century, the English diarist and naval leader Samuel Pepys wrote this:

Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.

Pepys was right. And it’s still true. We need to reclaim community tables. And toward that end, we are excited to announce that the tickets for Magnalia’s Winter Feasts are now available!

If you’ve not yet been, ask someone who has been or take our word for it: it’s more an experience than a meal. And in studying feasts in places near and far, in times recent and remote, these Feasts are designed to be taken with you. This idea first struck us in reading Hemingway writing about the French community meals and life in the Paris of his day:

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

The Feast of St. Valentine (featuring the legendary NC chef Josh White), on Friday night, February 9, will vibe a feast of Ancient Rome, and treasures from the incomparable Italian culinary tradition. The Feast of St. Patrick and the Ulster Scots, on Friday night, March 15, will vibe the Scots-Irish and their dynamic influence on America and its culinary traditions. Babette’s Feast on Friday night, April 19 will vibe elements of the short story by Isak Dineson of the same name, featuring treasures from the best of the French culinary tradition.

The Feast of St. Valentine
The Feast of St. Patrick and the Ulster Scots
Babette’s Feast

All promise to be experiences in community you might not soon forget.

We’re so excited to host you at one of these community tables — along with a server crew, musicians and extraordinary cheffery teams. Please RSVP soon, or the tickets will be gone.

AND PLEASE NOTE: We have set aside complimentary tickets, thanks to Patrons for each Feast, for all couples who would like to come, but might find the suggested donation for tickets prohibitive. (If that includes YOU, please know that inviting YOU AND YOUR GUEST to Table is one reason why Magnalia Homestead exists in the first place.)