'The tea, made specially magnificent in honour of the betrothal, was such a meal as could only have been compassed in Staffordshire or Yorkshire - a high tea of the last richness and excellence, exquisitely gracious to the palette, but ruthless in its demands on the stomach. At one end of the table, which glittered with silver, glass and Longshaw china, was a fowl which had been boiled for four hours; at the other, a hot pork pie, islanded in liquor, which might have satisfied a regiment. Between these two dishes were all the delicacies which differentiate hightea from tea, and on the quality of which the success of the meal really depends; hot pikelets, hot crumpets, hot toast, sardines with tomatoes, raisin bread, currant bread, seed-cake, lettuce, home-made marmalade, and home-made hams. the repast occupied over an hour, and even then not a quarter of the food was consumed.'
'Teas' similar to the one described above crop up over and over again in English fiction and diaries from the mid 19th to the early 20th centuries; the constants are abundance and variety of food, the presence of ham or pie, salad, the choice of baked goods, preserves, and a fine display of table ware. Tea also became strongly linked in popular culture with abundant Yorkshire hospitality. Brears gives an account of a substantial Yorkshite tea which actually took place. It was
'held by Miss Maffin in her small Wharfedale cottage about the 1860s. The round cricket table in the centre of the room, although barely a yard across, had been laid with her best china, a seed cake, bread and butter, ham sandwiches, and a salad of lettuce,cress, radishes and onions. tea cakes regularly replaced the lid of the kettle, to become hot and moist in its steam, while muffins were toasted on a toasting-dog before the fire.
When her friends arrived, they arranged themselves around the table. It was de rigeur on state occasions like this for the ladies to sit fair and square to the table in the ordinary manner, but the gentleman were allowed more latitude. Indeed, among the older generation, the correct claim to dignity seems to have been to sit with your chair sideways to the hostess, your bread and salad or your ham sandwiches on your red spotted handkerchief spread across your knees, and your cup and saucer on the edge of the table. Seated in this manner, the company then proceeded to do full justice to the fare set out before them, the conversation flowing just as freely as the hot tea laced with rum.'
The eating of tea, and the existence of two forms, afternoon tea and high tea, provides a lesson in British social history. Habitual consumption of either (it is not the custom to take both in any given day) says much about an individual's background and daily life. Afternoon tea, eaten after a light lunch and before a larger dinner, is considered an indicator of a leisured, comfortable existence. High tea, eaten on arrival from work, is popularly associated with old-fashioned households, rural or urban working-class background; although not invariably so, as Michael Smith points out, quoting from an unnamed earlier author:
'High Tea. In some houses this is a permanent institution, quite taking the place of late dinner, and to many it is a most enjoyable meal, young people preferring it to dinner, it being a moveable feast that can be partaken of at hours which will not interfere with tennis, boating or other amusements.'
At high tea, the means and desires of the household and demands of the occasion can dictate exactly what goes on the table. Cold cuts, meat pies, salads, pickles crumpets, muffins, teacakes, preserves, honey, fruit loaves, cakes and sponges are all considered suitable foods, participant selecting according to tastes and appetite. Tea (Indian) is drunk throughout the meal, although coffee or cocoa may be served if preferred.
The origins of high tea are uncertain, but evidence indicates they are different from those of afternoon tea, and that meals of the highest tea type were well established by the mid-19th century. 'High' seems to have been added to the name by people less familiar with it - those from a wealthy urban background, who adopted it as a novelty, or because it was conveniently timed for children, or as a cheaper, less formal alternative to dinner - from which the meal may have actually descended.
Davidson, Alan (2009) The Penguin Companion to Food, London, Penguin