History repeats itself, said Marx, the second time as farce. Or as parody, in the case of the award-winning Harvest Dinner at Bates College.

The popular annual Bates event, held Nov. 19, adopts a medieval theme in 2003, just as it did last year when the dinner earned a third-place award in its category from the National Association of College and University Food Services.

This time around, however, Dining Services spiced up the event with a little humor, turning to a famous Monty Python movie for added flavor. (And no, not The Meaning of Life, in case anyone imagines a campus re-enactment of a certain infamous restaurant scene.)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, instead, is the jumping-off point for this year's dinner, titled "Bates College Dining and the Missing Mail."

"Students loved the theme last year," explains Patricia Varnum of Dining Services. And even 28 years after Grail's 1975 release, the current crop of Bates students, the youngest of whom were born in 1986, still "get" Monty Python, she says.

Part of this year's pre-dinner intrigue was a scavenger hunt leading to a suit of armor — the "missing mail" — hidden in a Bates administrator's office. Six clues as to its whereabouts were given during Commons meals in the past weeks, ensuring students would stew over the mystery. The suspects were Varnum; Tom Carey '73, Campus Security and Safety director; Cheryl Lacey, Dining Services; Christine Schwartz, Dining Services director; and Monica Parker, Information and Library Services.

But the food's the thing. Bates senior Jan Smidek of Kosice, Slovakia, created a Flash movie on the Dining Services Web site based on the Grail characters. Here, the Knights Who Say "Ni" also announce parts of the menu, which includes vegetable bouillabaisse, maple-glazed pork roast, steamed mussels, organic turkey, beef brisket with roasted apples, and tofu and broccoli with black bean sauce.

At the traditional before-dinner gathering outside Commons, guests enjoy grilled herb bread, mulled cider and lobster chowder.

In keeping with Bates practice, much of the dinner features Maine products from the furthest reaches of the state, such as cider from Greenwood Orchards in Buckfield, turkey from The Turkey Farm in New Sharon, mussels from Preble Mussels in Wells, and potatoes from Naturally Potatoes in Mars Hill.

Inside, the medieval theme includes Leopold "Paul" Begin back for a return engagement. The "king" of last year's dinner, Begin, a longtime Dining Services worker familiar to generations of Bates students, this year dons a knight's surcoat and other regalia for the festivities.

Desserts are English bread and Butter pudding, millet cakes, wild plum and stuffed pear, baked apples, and assorted pies and cakes.

And no, there's no "wafer-thin mint."