Food is not the main attraction of a banquet; showing off wealth and power is the focus. A fourteenth-century banquet began with the guests washing their hands and taking their seats, and when all the food had been set out on the table, the highest-ranking person announced the opening of the table, and then cut the meat with a knife, took the food from themselves with their hands, and put it into a type of plate called a Trencher (made of hard bread, wood, or metal) to eat.

Fourteenth-century banquet, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

A typical banquet consisted of at least three courses, with performances and other events between the courses. Each course would contain a number of dishes, with meat and fish piled haphazardly on plates or pots (or in the case of medieval pies, which were common serving containers at the time and could be reused), and the dishes at each course would be fairly random and irregular, which is why this style was later called haphazard serving