Eating Etiquettes

Eating etiquette is one of the most important etiquettes in modern time. Often this goes unseen. Very few people, especially in India has the proper knowledge of various eating etiquettes. Proper eating etiquettes make your host happy and the dinner or lunch go smoothly.

Removing napkin, use of forks and other such things are very normal while hearing but are very important. Keeping in mind few basic things, we can enhance our eating etiquettes .

Some of the few basic etiquettes are as follows:

One should always remember to remove the napkin from its place setting, unfold it, and put it in their lap. Your napkin should rest on your lap till the end of the meal. If you want to ecuse yourself from the table, loosely fold the napkin and place it in the left or right of your plate. At the end of the meal, leave the napkin semi=folded at the left side of the place setting. You should not crumple it.

One should wait until everyone at the table are served before they begin to eat. Always eat to your left and drink to your right which means any food dish to the left is yours and any drink to the right is yours.

There are two ways of using fork & knife… American style &Continental or European Style.

American Style: One should hold knife in the right hand and fork in the left. After a few bite – sized pieces of food are cut, then knife should be placed on edge of the plate with blades facing in. And then eat food by switching fork to right hand. Always remember that a left hand, arm or elbow on the table is counted in bad manners.

European Style: Hold knife in right hand and fork in left hand. The only difference is there is no switching of utensils. You eat food with the fork in your left hand only. When you take a drink, you do not just put your knife down but both the utensils into resting position, crossing the fork over knife. Once used, your utensils must not touch the table again. Always rest forks, knives & spoons  on the side of your plate in the 4:20 position.

There are few basic things which everyone should remember while eating in a group:

You shouldn’t talk with food inside your mouth. This is very rude.

One should never blow on their food to cool it off, if it is too hot to eat. Wait until it cools.

You should always eat in small bites and slowly.

One should always eat a little of everything on their plate. Never forget to compliment food. And if you don’t like the food and fell unable to compliment, its better to keep silent. If the food served is not of your liking, it is polite to at least attempt to eat a small amount of it.

Loud eating noises such as slurping and burping are very impolite.

Always remember to turn off your cell phone or switch it to silent or vibrate mode before sitting down to eat.

 Keeping these basic things in mind while going out for a lunch or dinner will leave you a good impression.