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People are put in all kinds of situations where they are required to impress, naming a few: lunch with a client, lunch with the boss, dates, meeting the parents and on family gatherings during the holidays. One slight mistake could turn into an embarrassing scene!
Below is what we like to call the Ten Commandments of Dining Etiquette. Study them well…
1. Repeat after me: drinks on the right, bread on the left. This way you won’t be drinking from someone else’s glass, or biting off their bread.
2. The first thing you do after being seated is unfolding your napkin and placing it on your lap. It only leaves your lap when in use, until everyone else is finished and you are all leaving the table. If you need to leave the table momentarily, example: if you are at a buffet meal, leave your napkin on your chair, this indicates to the waiter that you are not finished. Also it is impolite to have a smudged napkin on the table while other people are still eating.
3. What is what? See the below graphic to know what each utensil is used for, and remember just work through them inward.
| 1- Napkin | 6- Dinner Plate | 11- Butter Knife | | 2- Fish Fork | 7- Main Course Knife | 12- Deseret Spoon & Fork | | 3- Salad Fork | 8- Fish Knife | 13- Water Glass | | 4- Main Course Fork | 9- Soup Spoon | 14- Red Wine Glass | | 5- Soup Bowl | 10- Bread Plate | 15- White Wine Glass |
4. Once you use a utensil you must not put it back on the table, no half-on-plate-half-on-table either, you can rest them on the rim of the table (see image 1). Only when you are finished you put the knife (blade facing inward) and fork diagonally next to each other. The waiter will know that you are finished (see image 2). 5. You cut your bread with your hands into bite size pieces and only use the butter knife to spread the butter on the bread. If butter is served in a sharing plate, use your knife to cut a portion and place it on your bread plate, and from there spread it on your bread. Never spread butter on your bread directly from the shared plate.
6. If you are having a meal with a small number of people you may only start once everyone else is served. However at larger gatherings, you may start after five or six people have been served, and you have permission by the people who have not been served yet.
7. If someone asks you to pass the salt, keep in mind that salt and pepper go together. Pass on both dispensers.
8. Stemmed glasses should be held from the stem to keep the cold drinks from getting warmer from your hands.
9. The waiter will serve you from your left, and when you are finished, the plates will be removed from your right.
10. The knife is kept in your right hand and the fork in your left. The fork is facing downward with the index finger holding it for stability while cutting the food. For other foods like mashed vegetables, the fork is also held facing downward and the food is placed on the back of the fork.
Bon appétit!
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