If you look at ご馳走 it quite literally doesn't mean feast. It refers to the people/effort required to rush deliver all of the fresh ingredients to prepare the m

If you look at ご馳走 it quite literally doesn't mean feast. It refers to the people/effort required to rush deliver all of the fresh ingredients to prepare the meal. It's a consequence of Japanese aversion to starting things directly. You don't say "it was a great feast". You say "it must have been a great effort mustering the horses and men for this" Of course the expression is used commonly enough that the de facto meaning is basically that now.