Title: Smooth Dinners

General Information About this Item:

• Ritual or Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant Number: 12
• Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

• High level manager within DDS. Has been at Dartmouth for nearly 40 years and has worked with the areas today known as the Hop, Collis Cafe, and 53’ Commons.

Contextual Data:

• Tradition that as far back as the informant had been at Dartmouth.  Tradition can date back to even prior to his time at Dartmouth and was looked forward to by nearly all students on campus.

Item:

• Customary Lore, each year on the Friday before Winter Carnival, (at the time) Thayer Dining Hall would host Steak Night.  The attendees would be required to wear nice dress and could bring dates to the dining hall in order to have a luxurious steak and seafood dinner.  Called “Smooth Dinner” because of the dress of the participants and the nature of the food that was served that night.

Transcript:

” An interesting tradition known as ‘Smooth Dinners’ where we would serve steak and lobster on the Friday before Winter Carnival”

Informant’s Comments:

This tradition would later form into the steak and lobster dinner served to seniors during senior week.  Then this tradition would transform into what we know now as the First-Year and athlete steak and lobster dinner served during matriculation.

Collector’s Comments:

• Clear example of Customary Lore
• A ritual that has been practiced for a prolonged period of time.
• We could call this a Dartmouth culinary rite or a Transformative Dartmouth Tradition for the way that it has changed, yet remained the same over the years.

Collector’s Name: C. Ross Wood

Tags/Keywords:

• Tradition, Ritual
• Customary Folklore
• DDS