Holiday Entertaining in the Gilded Age

Discover the elaborate etiquette and enchanting entertainments of a century ago with vivid descriptions of dinner parties, cotillions, and elegant holiday events that will transport you back in time. The Gilded Age— a time of calling cards, horse-drawn coaches, afternoon tea, formal dinners—a time when even picnics were served on fine china. Learn the popular toasts of the era and when it’s proper to remove your gloves or tip your hat as you play a guessing game on the uses of dozens of unique, but now obsolete objects of the time.

Francine Segan one of America’s foremost food historians, is a public speaker, author, TV personality, and consultant. She is a noted James Beard-nominated author of six books including her most recent two on Italy, Dolci: Italy’s Sweets and Pasta Modern: New & Inspired Recipes from Italy. She is the host on NYC’s popular i-italy TV series “Americans Who Love Italy,” and also appears on many other programs, including the “Today” show and “The Early Show” and has been featured on numerous specials for PBS, the Food Network, and the History, Sundance, and Discovery channels. She lectures across the USA for the prestigious speakers’ bureau Cassidy & Fishman and is a frequent guest speaker at NYC’s premiere cultural center the 92nd Street Y, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, Smithsonian Institution in DC, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and American Museum of Natural History among others. She recently moderated a panel for the Tribeca Film Festival on food in film.