The Christmas season is here once again, it is the season of love and sharing. It s also the season for dining, be it in staff parties or at home.

Transcription

1

2 The Christmas season is here once again, it is the season of love and sharing. It s also the season for dining, be it in staff parties or at home. As members of the Rotaract Club of Grenada, it is of vital importance that we know how to carry ourselves in a professional manner when dinning. The Professional Development Committee has outlined a few points on table etiquette to assist us, not only during the festive season, but throughout life.

3

4 Basic Table Manners 1. Electronic devices: Turn off or silence all electronic devices before entering the restaurant. If you forgot to turn off your cell phone, and it rings, immediately turn it off. Do not answer the call 2. Your napkin should be placed on your lap, never tucked it into your shirt. Dab the corners of your mouth if necessary during your meal; do not make grand wiping gestures. 3. Sit up straight and make sure that your elbows don't encroach on the space of the person beside you. Do not rest your elbows on the table or lean on them when eating. 4. Wait until everyone is served before eating. If you are a guest, wait for the host to begin. 5. Eat at a relaxed pace and don't wolf down course after course. Pace yourself to match your fellow diners. 6. Keep your mouth closed and noise to a minimum. Never smack your chops, or talk with your mouth full. Take care not to take mouthfuls that are too big. 7. Talking while there is food in your mouth should be avoided at all costs. 8. When you have finished, place your knife and fork - with the tines facing upwards - together on your plate. 9. Resist the urge to ask for a doggy bag. This is just not done! If however the host/hostess offers you food to take home then you may accept. In a restaurant, if you cannot finish the dish that you ordered, you may ask the waiter to wrap it up to take home. However, if others in your group are not doing this, it is best to follow suit. 10. Pass food from the left to the right. 11. Don't blow on your food to cool it off. If it is too hot to eat, take the hint and wait. 12. Removing items from your mouth. If you need to remove gristle or bone from your mouth, then remove it the way it had entered (i.e. fork or fingers), and place it discreetly on your plate. Here are a few tips for removing inedible items from your mouth: a. Chicken bone: use your fork to return it to the plate. b. Fish bones: remove with your fingers. c. Bigger pieces: bigger bones or food you don't appreciate you should surreptitiously spit into your napkin, so that you can keep it out of sight. 13. Excusing yourself: if you must leave the table, do so with as little interruption as possible. Politely and quietly excuse yourself; lay your napkin on the chair. If you have to cough or sneeze, turn your head toward your shoulder and cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or handkerchief. Excuse yourself if you have a fit of sneezes or hiccups or if you must blow your nose.

5

6 Table Settings The first step to informed utensil use is to understand where the basic utensils and dishes go on the dining table and how to use them. Figure 1 is a basic place setting which is one that most people recognize. The basic table setting contains: a plate, a bread-and-butter plate, a napkin, several utensils (usually consisting of a knife, a fork, and a soup spoon commonly called flatware or silverware), and at least one glass. Sometimes you have a coffee or tea cup and saucer and a tea spoon (or dinner spoon) as well. When you add a salad fork and a dessert spoon or fork, you ve filled out the simple place setting that most people have come to recognize. Sometimes a salad plate rests on the table instead of being delivered with the salad, and sometimes the dessert utensils and dessert plate and coffee or tea cups and saucers (along with spoons) appear after the meal. But in general, these plates and utensils are what you see on the table when you sit down at most meals. Two of the most important rules to bear in mind about dining, whether casual or formal are the following: I. Liquids are to the right, and solids are to the left. II. You start from the outside utensils and work inward with each course. The following provide details about various parts of a formal place setting and how to use them. Plates and bowls The place plate, or main dinner plate, is in the center in front of each chair setting. In formal dining, you usually have an under plate, also called a charger, as well that helps decorate and balance the table. The bread plate is always to the left, slightly above the forks. If soup and salad courses are served, the soup bowl and salad plate are brought to the table and later removed. The soup bowl is placed on a service plate, which sits on the dinner plate. The salad plate is also placed on top of the dinner plate. Utensils Forks are placed to the left of the plate, and knives and spoons to the right (with the exception of the cocktail fork, which is placed on the soup spoon or to right of the soup spoon). The dessert fork and spoon are placed above the dinner plate. Depending on the course, the salad fork, which is smaller than the dinner fork, is normally farthest to the left when the salad is served first. Salad is sometimes served as the third or fourth course, in which case the salad fork is closest to the plate. Next is the

7 dinner fork, which you use for the entree. The butter spreader is placed on the bread plate, on the left above the forks. The butter knife is on the butter plate. To the right of the plate, starting from the outermost utensil, you can see the cocktail fork, the soup spoon, the fish knife (if fish is being served), the dinner knife, and then the salad knife nearest the plate. The cutting edge of each knife is turned toward the plate. Finally, the dessert fork or spoon is placed horizontally above the place plate, tines of the fork facing to the right or spoon bowl facing to the left. Glassware In a formal setting, you usually have five glasses at the table. They are always to the right above the knives. If the glasses were to the left, you d have to reach across your food to get them, possibly soiling your sleeve. To suit the beverage with which it is filled, each glass is slightly different in shape and size: o The glass farthest to the right is a sherry or aperitif glass. You use this glass first, because sherry is poured during the soup course. o The white wine glass is next, which you use during the fish course or appetizer. o Behind the white wine glass is the red wine glass. This glass is larger, with a fuller bowl that allows the red wine to breathe. o The largest glass is the water goblet, which usually sits just above the dinner knife. Behind and to the right of the water goblet is the Champagne flute. You don t use this glass until dessert is served.

8

9 Eating Each Course of a Meal Remember, when you sit down to dine in a formal setting, do not touch anything until the host or guest of honor begins. The following would walk you through the typical courses of a meal: Bread: Bread is placed on the table or passed around the table. If a bread basket or bread plate is sitting in front of you, it s your responsibility to begin passing the bread. If the table is round, offer the bread to the person on your right, and don t help yourself until the bread comes back around to you. If the table is rectangular and you can see that the bread may not come back your way, help yourself and then pass to your right. Dipping, dunking, or wiping sauces with your bread isn t polite, except in the most informal gatherings or with certain dishes that are designed to do just. If you re dipping your bread into a communal sauce, never double-dip! Soup: Soup can be served in a variety of bowls and cups, hot or cold. You eat all soups the same way: 1. Hold your soup spoon or bouillon spoon the way you would hold a pencil, between your index and middle fingers with your thumb up. 2. Spoon the soup away from you toward the center or top of the bowl, and then sip the soup from the side not the point of the spoon. 3. Rest the spoon in the soup bowl while you pause. 4. After you ve finished, place the spoon on the saucer or plate beneath the cup or bowl; don t leave the spoon in the bowl or cup. Soup is meant to be eaten quietly. Slurping or sipping loudly is considered rude. Also, blowing on your soup or adding ice to cool it down isn t polite. If you re worried that your soup is too hot, gently stir it or spoon soup from the edge of the bowl first. Salad: Salad may be served before or after the main course. If a salad is served prior to or after the main course, use the smaller salad fork. If a salad is the main course, such as at a luncheon, use the entree fork. When a salad is served during a formal meal, you always have a salad knife. It is usually smaller than the dinner knife. After you finish your salad (or any course, for that matter), never push your plate or bowl away from you. The placement of your cutlery informs the wait staff that you ve finished.

10 Entrée: The main course is normally beef, chicken, duck, or lamb, and you eat these foods with a dinner knife and dinner fork. Finger foods, such as fried chicken, are usually served at informal occasions and not in formal dining situations. If you re served a large steak, you may cut it into two or three sections, but not into many small pieces. Red wine is served with most entrees. These days, the rule of white wine with fish and chicken doesn t always apply it depends on how the dish was prepared. Finger Bowl: A finger bowl is presented after the main course and before dessert arrives. Your server places it in front of you on a plate, usually with a doily under the bowl. The bowl contains warm water with a slice of lemon and occasionally a small flower. A small dessert fork and spoon are also on the plate; you bring these utensils down and place them to the left and right, respectively, of where the dessert plate will go. Dip just your fingertips in the water and dry them discreetly on your napkin. Remove the doily and bowl and place them to the left. A server then removes them. Dessert: Dessert is normally served to you, along with a dessert wine or Champagne. If you re served ice cream, use your dessert spoon; if you re served cake with a sauce and are eating in the American style, you use either the dessert spoon or the dessert fork. In a Continental-style setting, you use both your spoon and fork; hold your spoon in your right hand and your fork in your left, tines down. Fresh fruit and cheese are sometimes served as dessert. You eat these foods with a dessert knife and fork.

11 Etiquette for Dummies, Sue Fox, 2007, Wiley Publishing Inc. DeBretts, [accessed December 9 th 2012] For more information on Etiquette purchase a copy of Etiquette for Dummies by Sue Fox

12 Assembled by The Rotaract Club of Grenada