yalealumnimagazine.com  
  scene  
spacer spacer spacer
 
rule
yalealumnimagazine.com   about the Yale Alumni Magazine   classified & display advertising   back issues 1992-present   our blogs   The Yale Classifieds   yam@yale.edu   support us

spacer
 

The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University.

The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers.

 

Comment on this article

What, No Sugarplums?

Dressing up is optional, and roast suckling pig is a thing of the past, but every December, Yale still puts on a holiday dinner for freshmen that recalls the university’s gilded age.

©Mark Ostow

At last year’s event, pictured here, the opening “parade of comestibles” included a gingerbread village and a chaud-froid—that is, a chilled roast turkey covered with an aspic glaze and vegetable ornament. (The chaud-froid is at left, atop rolls of sliced turkey with grapes.) The decorations for the dinner also typically include between five and ten ice sculptures. “At least one of them,” says Commons manager John Swing ’83, “gets stolen, or broken in the attempt.” As for the suckling pig, its demise wasn’t a cost-cutting measure, but a bow to a student body with varying opinions about pork: the traditional roast whole pig with an apple in its mouth was ruled out for “political and religious considerations,” says Swing.  the end

 
   
 
 
 
spacer
 

©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu