High Time for a New High Tea

Say the words 'high tea' and it brings to mind images of well-dressed ladies sitting around chatting, fingers curled daintily around the handle of a white china cup, a spread of dainty treats presented on a three-tiered cake stand before them, in hushed tea rooms. It might seem a throwback to a more genteel past, but it has been fashionably revived for women to gather together, whether it be for a simple afternoon meal with a friend, or for that celebration those traditional 'new stages' of a woman's life. In Sydney, specialist tearoom cum restaurants are thriving, hotels offer high tea in an attempt to seem more classy, and even the odd occasional bar wants to get in on the action.

But what, really, is the appeal of high tea? Why has it taken off in the imaginations of modern women whose lives bear little resemblance to those original Victorian ladies who lunched?

A group of friends and I ventured to the Victoria Room for high tea last weekend. In a dimly lit room, perched on worn lounge suites of character, and over our pots of tea with porcelain plates held in our ladylike hands, I asked them for their opinions on the appeal of high tea. The answers varied between the novelty ("it probably wouldn't be as fun if the food wasn't served on the tiered stand," was one repeated idea), the heightened sense of femininity, and the atmosphere in the rituals and paraphernalia associated. Apart from this, it could be observed that most of our group had made some effort to dress above and beyond their usual casual style, with dresses and pretty tops more prevalent than normal, and that 95% of those present in the room were female. There is also a moneyed air about the whole rigmarole, considering the relatively hefty price tag, and the fact that all the places offering high tea in Sydney are located in or around upmarket urban areas. High tea, therefore, seems to highlight and segregate on the basis of two concepts: gender and class.

Food and food customs, such as events like high tea, hold symbolic cultural meanings beyond their physical intrinsic value, and these cultural choices - what we appeals to us and what we partake of and how we go about it - define for us and for others our understanding of our place in society. High tea as a meal has no intrinsic value that makes it more feminine or more high class, but the development of such a meal has been subject to social regulation that intertwined high tea with concepts of femininity and gentility. Dining rooms - in hotels, at restaurants - were one of the first places were women of better social standards were allowed to present themselves in public without the chaperone of a male relative. It allowed for these women to gather socially in public of their own accord, and to partake in social rituals in an adopted space of one's own (gender); in some ways the consumption of food, which would seem the main point of a meal, is more a secondary consideration in this case. And afternoon tea was introduced as the thing do for the upper classes during the era of industrialisation in urbanised areas of England, fitted in around 4 o'clock between a luncheon and a late-evening dinner.

What does that have to do with modern women and her penchant for high tea? In a egalitarian society such as we live in now, we might dismiss the idea of a clear-cut class structure and thus the symbolic nature of high tea, but the truth is that we continue to make choices in our lives that define for ourselves and for others the class we belong to and what we aspire to. Attending high tea could be seen as an aspirational cultural choice, demonstrating in public both the femininity of being a participant in such a female tradition, and also the ability to afford the time and money to enjoy such a meal as a sign of class status.

However, an investigation of the history of the term 'high tea' unearths an unexpected irony. High tea originated in Victorian times as very much a working class meal, eaten early in the evening after a hard day's labour, a substitute for separate afternoon and evening meals. The term 'high' referred the height of the table it was eaten at, in comparison to the low tables (similar to modern coffee tables) where afternoon tea was taken. Instead of dainty morsels for ladylike appetites - those scones, finger sandwiches and sweets served on the stand - the meal would usually consist of some meat and other hot filling foods for sustenance, along with copious amounts of steaming tea.

This is surely not the ritzy image that the hotels and fancy tearooms are trying sell with their glossy, hyperbole rich advertisements for the luxury of high tea. But if it has already become a fashionable past time, why not get ahead of the trend? I say we should return high tea to its hearty origins, and in the process make it a more inclusive meal. Let us strip away its class issues and bridge the gender divide; next time someone suggests high tea, invite all your friends, male and female, over for a good hearty meal of hot and cold meats, stomach filling sandwiches and cakes, and plenty of hot tea, of course, for everyone.

Kenya all just stop fighting for one second?

With an estimated 1000 dead and over 300,000 displaced you would think that such a scenario is playing out in the Sudan or Somalia. However, anybody with knowledge of African politics would be shocked at the furious state in which violence has plunged the usually safe and rather democratic country of Kenya into a bloody civil war. Ever since the re-election of President Mwai Kibaki, Kenya has plummeted into a state of civil disarray only seen in its neighbouring countries. With savage clashes between those loyal to the President and Opposition Leader Raila Odinga worsening with the passing of each day, one can increasingly be forgiven for barely raising a hopeful eyebrow of peace even despite the presence of former UN Chief Kofi Anan currently attempting to broker a peace deal between both parties.

To the west of Kenya fresh violence has again erupted in the capital of Chad, N'Jamena, as rebels launched its latest assault on government troops in an attempt to oust President Idriss Deby. After two days of intense clashes the rebels finally withdrew but not before tens of thousands fled the capital to neighbouring Cameroon, which lies south west of N'Jamena. At the present situation no official death toll has been given despite bodies littering the city's streets.

What makes the current situation even more unstable are claims by the Chad Government backed up by the United States that the rebels were aided by neighbouring country Sudan, a country already infamous for its notorious ethnic civil war in Darfur that has already seen several hundreds of thousands dead and several million displaced.

Despite the plan by the European Union to deploy a peacekeeping force to protect the displaced multitudes of Sudanese and Chadian refugees, one must question the reality of whether Africa can truly embrace peace in the foreseeable future. After all, the volatility of sporadic violence happening in any African country is something that is not too far fetched. The current events in Kenya bears clear testament to that. Extremely violent civil wars without any shred of humanity waged on ethnic or religious differences are now as common as the Reserve Bank of Australia raising interest rates.

Yet what can a continent that has known little besides famine, poverty, and war be it via ethnic cleansing or with its neighbouring countries possibly do to alleviate its current situation? Peace talks though frequent are about as viable as the world actually caring about the situation. Plus talk in this instance is not only cheap but pointless in a region whereby the rule of law is in the form of a machete or an AK-47 toting soldier with a Russian made RPG strapped to his back.

Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly, the world remains relatively detached, like a stranger in the street with their ipod blasting the latest itunes without a care in the world. Now why is that? Is it because Africa as a whole just is not as economically lucrative as the Middle East? Is it because despite its constant state of violence, these countries possess no firepower deserving of satellite analysis by the CIA? Or is it simply a case of TIA (This Is Africa) whereby the global thought pattern simply is: If it has always been broke, why fix it?

Regardless the situation, the world needs to stop sitting on the sidelines and realise that no matter how detached Africa may seem on their foreign policy agenda, basic humanity dictates that such violence cannot be allowed to continue to permeate a continent that has already been soaked in the very blood of its own people, regardless of ethnicity, religion or political allegiance.

Take the Brit out of Celebrity

Barring those tribes residing in the depths of the Amazon, the name Britney Spears has become a household name to every human being living on this planet. Since young she has been in the limelight, joining The New Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 11. By 1998 her first single Hit Me Baby One More Time reached number one and sold 9 million copies and as they say the rest is history. Or is it?

Every day one only has to turn on the television, browse an online newspaper or even take a quick glance at the magazines whilst lining up in the supermarket to see Britney's face. And this is not even America. To say that the paparazzi hounds her is an understatement. It has gotten to a stage whereby they have become her shadow, always there irrespective of the occasion. Her every move is photographed and her every action and reaction dissected by a group of so called entertainment journalists who constantly feign care and concern that she is further spiralling in her physical and emotional state. And when she breaks down do people put down their cameras and console her? They simply click away because hey, the don't call it the money shot for nothing.

Is it therefore any surprise that she has lost custody of her children and is constantly acting in a questionable fashion? Put any sane human being through the relentless barrage of camera flashes, autograph seekers, tabloid papers and magazines and see if they can come out unscathed. Perhaps such a gauntlet should become the new training course for any aspiring soldier wanting to join the SAS.

Such a media circus leads me to question the status of celebrities and the consequence of their actions. After all, given that they live their lives under the microscope of media scrutiny they do not really have a choice as to whether they are considered role models. Take sporting stars for instant. Just this week both AFL great Wayne Carrey and NRL superstar Johnathon Thurston have been in the headlines for domestic violence and drink driving.

As such, the usual criticism that follows is that they are being poor role models not only for the kids who look up to them but to the society that has always "held them in such high esteem". But what if all they wanted to do was play footy, or sing or act and not become a role model to everyone around them? The point here is not that domestic violence, drink driving or neglecting your kids is anything tolerable. The point is every day people go through such troubles. And celebrities are every day people. Yet they are not allowed to make mistakes because hey, we all know that every twenty year old who can hit a wide receiver on the run with a sixty yard throw also knows how to live a respectable life whilst receiving so much money that he doesn't know what to do with it. After all, you can only buy you mom so many houses.

Unfortunately there is no solution to this vicious cycle. A new sensation will always emerge with the innocence of a newborn babe. Then the media will shower praises on this newborn babe with so much frequency that with this new found fame that they are transformed from newborn babe to hottest babe overnight. It is at this point whilst they are riding their pinnacle of success that the very same media that built them up will wait in eager anticipation for them to fall. And when they fall, and fall they will, the media pounces dragging them into the abyss of eternal negative scrutiny until they spiral out of control. And at the end of the day when they OD, enter rehab for the umpteenth time, sight irreconcilable differences or reside in the slammer the media will still be there searching for the smoking gun that caused them to fall.

Headlines for exclusive stories will question "What went wrong?" whilst side stepping the irony that the hands that take the photos or write the stories are also the very hands that gave these celebrities that little nudge when they were living on the edge.