Table Manners Dos and Don’ts
I believe it’s always best to start with the positive so let’s start with the “Dos.”
Table Dos
Do place your napkin in your lap, and use it to blot your lips and wipe your hands.
Do wait for your hostess to be seated before you start eating, unless requested to do so earlier.
Do cut food into manageable, bite-sized pieces, and swallow before you speak.
Do say, “Please pass the…” instead of reaching across the table and igniting yourself on an open flame.
Do place fork and knife diagonally across the upper right hand corner of your plate when you are finished eating.
Do remove hot or inedible substances from your mouth with your fork, not your fingers or napkin.
Do eat drink garnishes after draining your glass, not before.
Do use a fork when sopping up gravy or sauces with chunks of bread.
Do use finger bowls to clean fingers, and hot towels to clean hands and mouths.
Do refrain from making or receiving phone calls at the table.
Table Don’ts
Don’t grasp eating utensils as you would a garden trowel or hammer, or place used utensils directly on the table.
Don’t tuck your napkin into your shirt collar.
Don’t primp or clean your teeth at the table.
Don’t fidget or make loud noises while you eat (slurping, burping, lip-smacking).
Don’t slouch or otherwise lean on the table.
Don’t scoop ice from your water glass to cool hot soups or beverages.
Don’t season your food before you taste it.
Don’t push your plate away from you when you are finished eating.
Don’t leave your spoon in your mug while drinking from it, or wring tea bags with your fingers.
Don’t dunk donuts or scones into beverages.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen
Table Your Manners
Teaching manners to your children is difficult and sometimes following proper table manners yourself is even more difficult. The dinner table has become a free-for-all these days, and did you just see the “Lord of the Napkin Rings” just stuck his chewing gum on his plate? But before you double-dip your roast orc in the fondue, take a look around you. This is NOT Middle-Earth, and that is NOT your water glass! Oy Vay!
The first step to deciphering the individual place setting involves locating your drinking glass. While you should always, “drink right,” as in not gulping or slurping beverages, you should remember that your drink is on the right side of your plate. If you need a status symbol to boost your confidence, think of your BMW while you dine. Bread plate to the left; Meal plate in the center; Water glass to the right.
Use silverware from the outside in, and in the order it is presented (soup spoon on the outer right, small fork on the far left).
You have two choices when it comes to handling your fork and knife, which are American-style and European-style. When cutting meat, for example, both Americans and Europeans hold the fork in the left hand, tines down, and the knife in the right hand, blade down. After slicing meat into bite-sized pieces, however, Americans place the knife on the plate (preferably at a diagonal across the upper right side), and switch the fork to the right hand before eating. Europeans hold their fork, tines down, in the left hand while cutting and eating. Either style is correct.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen
