A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a

social group In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...

, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers.

United Kingdom

A dining club differs from a gentlemen's club in that it does not have permanent premises, often changing the location of its meetings and dinners. Clubs may limit their membership to those who meet highly specific membership requirements. For example the Coningsby Club requires members to have been a part of either OUCA or CUCA, the Conservative Associations at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively. Others may require applicants to pass an

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

, or simply pay a membership fee. Early dining clubs include The Pitt Club, The

Bullingdon Club The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club is known to select it ...

, and

The 16' Club The 16' Club, commonly referred to as The Sixteens, the College Sixteen or simply 16, is a private dining club for male members of St David's College, Trinity Saint David. It is the only remaining undergraduate dining club at the university, ...

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, similar groups are called eating club is a social club. Eating clubs date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are intended to allow college students to enjoy meals and pleasant discourse. Some clubs are referred to as bicker clubs because of the process of bickering over which applicants to accept as members. Replaced largely by the modern fraternity and sorority system, eating clubs are now limited to a few colleges and universities, most prominently at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, though other universities including

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

, Mount Olive College, and Reed College have the presence of eating clubs. Dining clubs often have reciprocity with other dining clubs across the nation or even worldwide. Some are able to arrange reciprocity with other private social clubs with more facilities besides dining such as overnight guest rooms and a gym. Examples of such social clubs include Penn Club of New York City that has reciprocity with India House Club at 1 Hanover Square.

List of dining clubs

''This list is incomplete.'' ''Date of founding in brackets'' 18th-century, or earlier, foundations *

Hibernian Catch Club The Hibernian Catch Club is a dining and catch musical club founded c.1680 in Dublin, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Brita ...

(c. 1680) * Kit-Cat Club (before 1705) *

Beefsteak Club Beefsteak Club is the name or nickname of several 18th- and 19th-century male dining clubs in Britain and Australia that celebrated the beefsteak as a symbol of patriotic and often Whig concepts of liberty and prosperity. The first beefsteak clu ...

(c. 1705) * October Club (1711–1714) *

Society of Knights of the Round Table {{See also, Round Table (club) The Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table, also known as The Knights of the Round Table Club, is a British society which exists to perpetuate the name and fame of King Arthur and the ideals for which he ...

(1720) * Society of Dilettanti (1732) * Divan Club (1744–1746) * Friendly Brothers of St Patrick (before 1750) * The Kensington Club (c. 1750-60) * The Club (1764) * Lunar Society (1775–1813) *

(1780) * Beaver Club (1785–1830s) 19th-century foundations * Nobody's Friends (1800) * Canada Club (1810) *Trinity College Dublin Dining Club, London (c. 1810) *

Grillions Grillion's is a London dining club founded in 1812. It was founded by the British diplomat Stratford Canning as a meeting place free from the violence of political controversy. The club had no premises but met at Grillion's Hotel on Albemarle Stre ...

(1812) *

Société des douze The ''Société des douze'' (French; ) was scholarly and literary dining club in Brussels. The first society Its precursor, the '' Société de littérature de Bruxelles'' () founded on 10 January 1800, was deprecated by the government of ...

(1823) *Geological Society Dining Club (1824) *

Raleigh Club The Raleigh Club was a dining club founded in 1827. It met at the 'Thatched House', a tavern in the St James area of London as an alternative to the Travellers Club. It was founded by Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke as a place where real exploring ...

(1827) * Pitt Club (1835) * X-club (1864–1893) *

Myrmidon Club The Myrmidon Club is a dining club elected from the members of Merton College, Oxford, and with a continuous history exceeding 150 years. Until recently, the club was single-sex, and an equivalent club for women, named the Myrmaids, was established ...

(1865) * The Whitefriars Club (1868)http://www.whitefriarsclub.org, and ‘Thursday… The annual dinner of the Whitefriar’s Club was held at Radley’s, Mr. Tom Hood in the chair.’ ''London City Press'', Saturday 20 February 1869, p. 3. *

(c. 1875) * Ivy Club (1879) * United and Cecil Club (as the Constituency Union in 1881) * Cottage Club (1886) * Cap and Gown Club (1890) * Tiger Inn (1890) * Colonial Club (1891) *

Omar Khayyám Club ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun, Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun C ...

(1892) * Castaways' Club (1895) *

Ye Cherubs (Queens', Cambridge) Ye or YE may refer to: Language * Ye (pronoun), a form of the second-person plural, personal pronoun "you" * The Scots language, Scots word for "you" * A pseudo-archaic spelling of the English definite article (''the''). See ''Ye olde'', and the ...

(1895) *

The Chinese Club The Chinese Club () is a private member's club in Central, Hong Kong. When it was first founded, its members were exclusively Chinese, many of whom served as compradors in Western mercantile firms. History The Chinese Club was established in 1897 ...

(1897) *

Stock Exchange Luncheon Club The Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was a members-only dining club, on the seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange Building at 11 Wall Street in Manhattan. The club was founded on August 3, 1898, and moved from 70 Broadway to 11 Wall Street when ...

(1898–2006) 20th- and 21st-century foundations * Nova Scotia Club (1900) *

Princeton Charter Club The Princeton Charter Club is one of Princeton University's eleven active undergraduate eating clubs located on or near Prospect Avenue in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Club history The Princeton Charter Club was organized in the fall ...

(1901) *

Quadrangle Club The Princeton Quadrangle Club, often abbreviated to "Quad", is one of the eleven eating clubs at Princeton University that remain open. Located at 33 Prospect Avenue, the club is currently "sign-in," meaning it permits any second semester sophom ...

(1901) * Coefficients (1902) *

Princeton Tower Club Princeton Tower Club is one of the eleven eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, and one of seven clubs to choose its members through a selective process called bicker. Tower is located at 13 Prospect Aven ...

(1902) *

Terrace Club Princeton Terrace Club is one of eleven current eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Terrace Club was founded in 1904 and is located at 62 Washington Road. It is the sole Princeton eating club located off P ...

(1904) * Square Club (1908) *

Chatham Dining Club The Chatham Dining Club is a general interest Dining club based in London, United Kingdom. The club was founded in 1910 by Captain Rupert Ommanney and Captain Guy Dawnay (British Army officer), Guy Dawnay whilst they were students at the British Arm ...

(1910) * The Other Club (1911) *

Cercle de l'Union interalliée The cercle de l'Union interalliée, also known as the Cercle interallié, is a private social and dining club established in 1917. The clubhouse is the Hôtel Perrinet de Jars at 33 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, France. It adjoins the ...

(1917) *

Coningsby Club Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) ...

(1921) * Ratio Club (1949–1958) *

Piers Gaveston Society The Piers Gaveston Society, or Piers Gav for short, is a dining club founded in 1977 at the University of Oxford. It is named in honour of Piers Gaveston, favourite of King Edward II of England. In recent years, parties run by the society have b ...

(1977) *

Strafford Club Strafford may refer to: Places In the United States: * Strafford, Missouri, a city * Strafford, New Hampshire, a town * Strafford, Pennsylvania * Strafford, Vermont, a town * Strafford County, New Hampshire Other *Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of S ...

(1995)

Fictional

* ''The Thursday Club'', a monthly dining club, features in the novel '' The Three Hostages'' by

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

. * ''The Twelve True Fishermen'' is the name of a fictional club in the eponymous short story by G. K. Chesterton in which his detective Father Brown solves the riddle of the disappearance of the club's silver. * The annual dinner of ''The Ten for

Aristology Aristology is the art or science of cooking and dining. It encompasses the preparation, combination, and presentation of dishes and the manner in which these dishes are integrated into a meal. An Aristologist is someone who studies or takes part ...

'' is the scene of a murder in the 1960

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in ...

story ''

Poison à la Carte "Poison à la Carte" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in April 1960 in the short-story collection '' Three at Wolfe's Door'' (Viking Press). Plot summary A group of gourmets, who call themselves the Ten for Aristolog ...

'',

References

External links

Discussion on "What are eating clubs"
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051025030312/http://etc.princeton.edu/Campus/chap11.html Historical article on Princeton's eating clubs {{DEFAULTSORT:Dining Club Lists of organizations