WORLD’S BIGGEST BANQUET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21539, 11 January 1932, Page 12

WORLD’S BIGGEST BANQUET

REVELLERS’ 800 QUARTS OF CHAMPAGNE. Paul Poiret, the famous dress designer, once staged the greatest banquet that was ever eaten. The revelries lasted all night, and 300 guests drank 800 quarts of champagne and ate 300 foie-gras, 300 lobsters, 300 melons, and 300 ices. This remarkable banquet took place in a pavilion formerly owned by Louis XV in the woods of Faussc-Reposes. All the guests were dressed as gods and goddesses, nymphs, naiads, dryads, and satyrs. “ Pyramids of water melons, pomegranates, and pineapples contributed to a rich decorative architecture,” says M. Poiret in his book of memoirs, “My First Fifty Years.” “ In another place there was a rural eating house, a sort of workshop for the soldiers of the King, in which Bacchic serving women crowned with vine leaves poured out new wine. “ Behind them piled-up barrels promised gaiety enough. In front were tubs filled with scarlet shrimps, baskets full of grapes, cherries, and .gooseberries.’’ Electric lamps hidden in the thickets illumined the scene, while in another grove 40 musicians played the music of Bach and Boccherini. Isadore Duncan gave an impromptu dance, and the whole party, including the half-clothed nymphs arrived back in Paris with the milk! “The scene was so beautiful and the spirit of the fete so elevated that no scandal, no unpleasantness, occurred, and everything proceeded in perfect order,” adds M. Poiret.