I was going to let it go, but I couldn’t. It was getting to me like the mislabelling of Wagyu beef for “Kobe” or sparkling wine for “Champagne.” I know, the world won’t end, but the culinary world won’t progress if we keep calling things by the wrong name.
I’ve been there, calling it “High Tea” instead of “Afternoon Tea” and not even acknowledging the difference. It’s a big difference too, and it’s time to point them out.
Almost every place in Metro Vancouver offering a High Tea service is actually offering an Afternoon Tea service. Yes, the two names nowadays are somewhat interchangeable, but they weren’t in the past.
Definitions change with time, but it’s important to recognize the original meanings of culinary terms to better understand them.
Nowadays, High Tea is often used to address Afternoon Tea. Perhaps it’s because it sounds “higher class,” or it’s a more marketable term than “Afternoon Tea,” which sounds somewhat uncultured and boring, but historically they are not related.
Traditionally, High Tea happens after work hours at around 5pm to 6pm. It was a meal time for the working class, not for the high class like people tend to assume. Therefore the spread would consists of heavier items like chicken pot pies, quiche and beef wellingtons. It was a replacement for a late dinner and often had on high tables, hence the name High Tea.
As for Afternoon Tea or “Low Tea,” this happens around 3pm to 4pm on a low table top. Tea was a luxury, so Afternoon Tea was for the social elite and it’s what most think of as “High Tea.” Since having tea was such an occasion, the “snack” eventually turned into a full meal and dinners happened later at around 8pm.
Generally, Afternoon Tea consists of multi-tiers of crustless finger sandwiches, scones, dainty tea cakes and petit fours. Sound familiar? Well if you’ve been going for “High Tea” in Vancouver it should, however the term is being misused for the most part.
As for the menus in the UK (birthplace of Afternoon Tea) calling it “High Tea”, they are doing it to appeal to tourists who relate to the term better. It’s a bit of a sad truth.
Technicalities aside… Oh, heck, who am I kidding? I rarely put those aside, but if I had to put them aside then call it what you want. As long as you’re enjoying yourself then it doesn’t really matter.
Continue to believe the world is flat. Okay, I’m being dramatic, but just know there is a difference.
Find Mijune at the Vancouver Magazine Awards on April 22. She will be attending Chowzter’s Global Steak Symposium and the Chowzter Awards on April 27 in London. She will also be at Veuve Clicquot’s World’s Best Female Chef Awards, Cacao Barry’s The World’s Best Pastry Chef Awards, and S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna’s The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards on April 28 also in London. Follow Mijune’s culinary adventures on her blog, and follow @followmefoodie and #FMFinLondon on Twitter and Facebook for live updates.
