Last Monday, the Chigi Palace hosted an event that was the first of its kind: an Honors College Baroque Banquet! Abbie Slade, Allison Miller, Christy Rolf, and I each researched a sensory experience of the banquets during the baroque period and then replicated those experiences in the palace.

The main room of the palace was almost unrecognizable with a single long table down the middle of the room with flowers and each guest having their own place card. There was baroque music playing and a slideshow on the television of the greatest artworks and sculptures of the time.

The meal that Abbie researched and we served was marinated and grilled chicken skewers, roasted and sautéed fennel, tomatoes, and eggplant, and pasta with a red sauce using ingredients customary of the time period. Wine was served as baroque banquets were meant for drinking and discussing the art, ideas, and politics of the world. To aid our guests with the discussion, Christy printed out table topics, and it was so fun hearing who everyone’s favorite artist was or what they thought of the courts of Italy. As a dessert, we brought out (as we know them) wedding cookies. The baroque desserts were all about sugar and this was the perfect representation of a pastry that the guests would have eaten. They melted in your mouth and were super sweet!
The last and most fun part of the banquet was our photo booth. Allison researched the fashion of the time and made little crown and hat cutouts that everyone used as props. We hung up a backdrop and set up the tripod and viola! We got some great pictures. I really hope there are honors students in the future that do something along these lines because, while it was for credit, it was one of the most fun dinners I have had in the palace.

AJ Dessert