Charger (table setting)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charger plates are larger decorative plates used to dress up dinner tables at parties, weddings, and other special events. While charger plates have been around since the 1800s, they returned to popularity in the late `90s. Since food is not actually served on chargers, they are often called underplates or chop plates.
Charger plate etiquette and use varies among caterers and restaurants. Some professional catering companies remove the decorative charger plate as soon as the guests are seated. Often a decorative charger plate is left on the table as a large coaster for the soup and salad courses and then removed for the main entree. Others keep the underplate, charger or chop plates together until the end of the entire meal.
The word first appears as the Middle English chargeour in the c.1305 work Legends of the Holy Rood:
I was that cheef chargeour, I bar flesch for folkes feste.
The root in French is uncertain. It is either the Anglo-Norman chargeour meaning that which loads or the Old French chargeoir meaning a serving utensil. (Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)
