Pesachim 100 - Continue the meal

Normally, one should emphasize the beginning of Shabbat or Holiday by not eating before the evening meal - to get the full enjoyment of it. But what if one started a meal much earlier, and it extended up to the evening meal time, and the Shabbat or Holiday has started? - One covers the meal with a cloth and recites the Kiddush. Then he continues the meal, but now it is also in honor of Shabbat.

In the earlier days, when people were served individual tables with the dishes, they were not brought to the guests before the Kiddush. However, it once happened that Rabbah bar Rav Huna was a guest at the Exilarch house for Shabbat. They brought him a table earlier than the Kiddush was said. He followed the above idea: covered the table and pronounced the Kiddush. Now he could join the festivities.

Art: Lunch Table by John Singer Sargent