TV tray tables unfold for new generation
Eating while staring into a screen became a constant in my life long before I started spending lunch scrolling Instagram.
In the 1960s, having dinner in front of the TV was an eagerly anticipated special occasion. It usually happened when my parents went out to a party and I was put in charge of two younger siblings. I would take out three frozen chicken pot pies, stab each with a serrated steak knife (for steam) and bake them. Then I’d click together three black-and-gold metal TV tray tables, and we’d eat our pies while watching Gilligan’s Island or The Addams Family.
Fast-forward to today. TV dining is a frequent routine I look forward to. My husband and I, empty nesters, set two wooden trays with dishes, flatware and cloth napkins. We serve the food and head to the den to escape into an episode (or two) of Outlander or The Americans. We even have a small acrylic-and-brass folding table that one of us might pull up to the sofa.
Family therapists might tell you that having a meal together around the dining table is a sacred ritual that must be preserved. But sometimes, you just want to shut up and watch Billions.
The dirty little secret is that increasing numbers of timecrunched people seeking relax-hour ation are spending the dinner in front of a TV. According to Nielsen’s first quarter 2016 Total Audience Report, the average U.S. adult spends more than five hours daily tuning into television.
According to Steven Stolman, author of The Serial Entertainer’s Passion for Parties, you can class up your meal, and minimize upholstery damage, by laying a cloth napkin on a tray, using a large plate and serving a one-dish meal that doesn’t require a knife.
Nobody knows for sure who invented the original flimsy metal tables, usually sold as a set of four with a stand. But they emerged around 1952, not long after the TV set debuted and just before advent of Swanson’s first TV dinner in 1953, a complete frozen meal.
A set of 1960s TV tables are now part of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. By 1960, nearly 90 per cent of American homes had a television.
Paula Johnson, a curator at the museum, says the tables were often set up for big games or TV specials. “Those of us who remember it recall how much fun it was to put up one of these tables and not have to sit around the dinner table. It was a treat,” Johnson says. As snacking became an American pastime, the design was also marketed as a “snack table.”
TV tray tables, vintage and new, are available from many sources.
You can buy a set of four wooden tables from Target for US$44.99. Scully & Scully, an upscale Manhattan home furnishings emporium, has sold high-end wooden tray tables since the 1950s, and they continue to be popular, especially on bridal registries. The tables come in burlwood or mahogany (liquid- and stain-resistant), selling for US$345 for two or US$685 for four. (International shipping is available.)
The designers of my CB2 Novo TV table ($229), Robert and Cortney Novogratz, created it with small spaces and major TV events in mind. “Our family usually only eats in front of the TV if there is an important show to watch, like a game, the political debates and/or any of the awards shows,” Cortney Novogratz said in an email. “Having your own tabletop helps prevent spills, arguments, etc., and the tables fold nicely to be stored easily. ”
Vintage models can be found at yard sales and flea markets.