Table Manners Serving Etiquette

Table Manners

Serving Etiquette

Formal Meals

• Food is brought to each diner at the table;
• The server presents the platter or bowl on the diner's left,

(Alternatively, plates are prepared in the kitchen and then brought to the table and set before the diners.)

Casual Meals

• the host will dish food onto guests' plates to pass around the table; or
• the diners help themselves to the food and pass it to others as necessary.

Using Serving Utensils. Some general guidelines for using serving utensils:

• Serving utensils are placed on the right side of serveware;
• When a serving spoon and serving fork are presented together, the spoon is laid on the right ready to cut and lift and the fork on the left to steady and hold.
• The utensils are returned to the platter or serving bowl in the same position.
• When a serving spoon is presented on an underplate, after use the utensil is replaced in the bowl (ready for the next person to use).
• To protect the hand, the blade of a carving knife faces inward.

How to Eat Tricky Vegetables

How to Eat Tricky Vegetables

ASPARAGUS

Hot asparagus is usually served with melted butter or hollandaise, cold asparagus with vinaigrette. Unless asparagus is a vegetable accompaniment to a dish, or covered in sauce, it should be eaten with the fingers. The asparagus spear should be picked up towards the end of the stem, dipped in any accompanying sauce and lowered into the mouth, bite by bite. There's no need to chew through the tough, woody ends of the stems; they should be left neatly on the side of the plate.

PEAS

Avoid turning over your fork and using it as a scoop; instead, squash the peas on to the back of the fork. Utilise any aids on your plate, such as mashed potato. Scoop with an upturned fork in more casual or solitary situations.

GLOBE ARTICHOKES

The leaves of an artichoke should be peeled off one by one, starting with the outer leaves. Hold each leaf by its pointy tip and dip the base in the butter or sauce. Eat just the tender, rounded base of each leaf, and leave the rest. Place discarded leaves on the side of the plate. When you reach the centre, the smaller leaves and hairy choke can be cut away to reveal the heart. This is cut into pieces and eaten with a knife and fork.

Table Manners Bread and Butter Etiquette

Table Manners

Bread and Butter Etiquette

Bread is most often placed on the table in a basket that everyone shares.

• If the bread is placed in front of you, feel free to pick up the basket and offer it to the person on your right.
• If the loaf is not cut, cut a few pieces, offer them to the person to your left, and then pass the basket to your right.
• Do not touch the loaf with your fingers, instead use the clothe in the bread basket as a buffer to steady the bread as you slice it.
• Place the bread and butter on your butter plate - yours is on your left - then break off a bite sized piece of bread, put a little butter on it, and eat it.
• Don't butter the whole piece of bread and then take bites from it.
• Don't hold your bread in one hand and a drink in the other, and
• Don't take the last piece of bread without first offering it to others.                                                                                                                                   In some restaurants, olive oil is served with bread. Dip your bite-sized pieces of bread in the oil and eat.Because butter is produced in rectangle form, and the butter knife is made with a dull blade to slice butter and a pointed tip to transfer cubes of butter to the plate.

Table Manners Passing Food

Table Manners

Passing Food

• Food should be passed to the right - but the point is for the food to be moving in only one direction.
• One diner either holds the dish as the next diner takes some food, or he hands it to the person, who then serves herself.
• Any heavy or awkward dishes are put on the table with each pass.
• Cream pitchers and other dishes with handles should be passed with the handle toward the person receiving them.
• If a platter for sharing is present it is passed around the table, with each diner holding it as the person next to him serves himself, using only the serving utensils provided.                     

  Salt and Pepper Etiquette

  Taste Before Salting. Be sure to taste the food before putting salt or pepper on it.
  Pass Salt and Pepper Together. Always pass salt and pepper together. If a person asks for just one, pass both anyway.
  Saltcellars. Some hostesses prefer to use saltcellars, which salt shakers have largely replaced.
  
  • If there is no spoon in the saltcellar, use the tip of a clean knife to take some salt.
  • If the salt­cellar is for you alone, you may either use the tip of your knife or you may take a pinch with your fingers.
  • If it is to be shared with others, never use your fingers or a knife that is not clean.
  • Salt you have taken from the cellar should be put on the bread-and-butter plate or on the rim of whatever plate is before you.
  
  

Table Manners Napkin Etiquette

Table Manners

Napkin Etiquette

Placing the Napkin in Your Lap. Wait for the host or hostess to take his or her napkin off the table and place it in his or her lap. (An exception to this rule is buffet-style meals, where you should unfold your napkin when you start eating)

Unfolding the Napkin. Unfold your napkin in one smooth motion without "snapping" or "shaking" it open.

The size determines how you unfold a napkin in your lap.

1. Large napkins provided at more formal dinners, are unfolded halfway.
2. Smaller napkins are unfolded completely and cover the lap fully.

Tucking the Napkin. Don't tuck a napkin into your collar, between the buttons of your shirt, or in your belt.

When messy finger food is served before tucking the napkin under the chin or tying it around the neck, look to the host to see if he does the same.

Using the Napkin. Use your napkin frequently during the meal to blot or pat, not wipe, your lips. Blot your lips before taking a drink of your beverage-especially if you're a woman wearing lipstick.

Napkin Rings. If a napkin ring is present, after removing your napkin, place the ring to the top-left of the setting. At the end of the meal, grasp the napkin in the center, pull it through the ring, and lay it on the table with the point facing the center of the table.

Temporarily Leaving the Table. When leaving the table temporarily, put your napkin on your chair. If the chair is upholstered, place the napkin soiled side up.

Placing the Napkin at the End of the Meal. At the meal's end:

• The napkin is loosely folded at the end of the meal.
• If a plate is in the center of your place setting, when leaving the table lay the napkin to the left of the plate.
• If the center of your place setting is empty, the napkin is laid in the middle of the place setting.
• Leave your napkin in loose folds that keep soiled parts hidden.
• If after-dinner coffee is served at the table, the napkin remains in the lap.

How to Use Chopsticks

How to Use Chopsticks

If your chopstick technique is unreliable and you find yourself asking for a fork when in a restaurant it would be a good idea to practise at home.

Hold the chopsticks parallel in one hand. Your thumb and forefinger hold and manipulate the top stick. Your middle finger rests between the sticks, keeping the bottom stick held still. The top stick is manoeuvred by the thumb and forefinger to grip food and bring it to your mouth.

Place your chopsticks by the right-hand side of your plate when you are not using them; you may be provided with special rests. Never use chopsticks to pass food to people, and never use them to point at other people.

How to Use Cutlery

How to Use Cutlery

A knife should be held firmly in your right hand, with the handle tucked into your palm, your thumb down one side of the handle and your index finger along the top (but never touching the top of the blade). It should never be eaten off or held like a pencil.

When used with a knife or spoon, the fork should be held in the left hand, in much the same way as the knife, with the prongs facing downwards. On its own, it is held in the right hand, with the prongs facing upwards, resting on the fingers and secured with the thumb and index finger.

A spoon is held in the right hand, resting on the fingers and secured with the thumb and index finger. Food should be eaten off the side of the spoon; it should never be used at a right angle to the mouth.

When eating, bring the fork or spoon to the mouth, rather than lowering the head towards the food. Bring the food promptly to the mouth and do not gesticulate with the knife and fork.

Cutlery should be rested on the plate/bowl between bites, and placed together in the bottom-centre when you are finished.

Never gesture with your cutlery, and don't scrape or clatter it noisily against your plate or bowl. Equally, it is bad manners to loudly clank your utensils against your teeth.

LAYING THE TABLE

Whether it is a formal dinner or a much more casual occasion, the basic rules do not vary when laying the table. Give each person as much elbow room as the table permits. Leave an even amount of space between places. Knives and spoons go on the right, forks on the left. Formally, it is correct always to lay side plates – even if they are not going to be used – with the napkins simply folded on them.

The range of a cutlery arsenal will depend on the formality of the occasion, but the layout should always be the same - fork to the left, knives and spoons to the right. Work from the outside inwards, course by course, finishing with pudding implements. Pudding spoons and forks may sit above the place setting on less formal occasions, or may be brought out when the main course has been cleared.

Always eat puddings with a spoon and fork (both should always be laid); the spoon should be a dessert spoon. Ice cream may be eaten with a teaspoon, or a long teaspoon if served in a tall glass. Sorbet, served between courses, is eaten with a teaspoon.