It has been a long time coming but we are finally in our very first blog.
We will be discussing one of the most important lessons in Etiquette, dining. Many of the students in my classes are always excited about this, although they seem to feel a little nervous when we put it to practice. Some people are already practicing this day by day. However, may have slight mistakes in the placement of the utensils and usage of their fingers. There are a few distinct protocols when practicing dining etiquettes and we will discuss them here!
First of all, it is important to know dining etiquette for the simple fact you may never know who you are/will be dining within the near or distant future. Plus you want to appear refined anytime you dine, right? Some people do not really care but we are not those people! We are civilized and we always better ourselves by learning manners.
Different cultures have different practices and two of the most common dining styles are the American style and the European style. The major difference between the two is in American style, you rest the knife after cutting and switch the fork to the right hand if right-handed. That is called zig zag. Now, the European style, which is also called Continental style, calls for you to keep both utensils in hand and feed yourself with your left where your fork remains and wrest the right wrist on the edge of the table.
Styles
American style diningrequires a little more effort in preparing the food. See the instructions below:
The fork is on the left side and the knife on the right. Extend index fingers at the top of the knife and fork and be sure the index finger stops at the neck of either utensil and the handle in the palm of your hand, not sticking out the side of your hands.
Cut one piece at a time making sure that the knife is in front of the fork, and not behind it or between the tines. Oh by the way, what others call fork teeth, they are actually called tines, not teeth. Just a little tip!
When finished cutting a piece, place the knife at the top of the plate with the jagged side facing you, not outwards. Transfer the fork with the meat/portion of food onto the right hand and pivot the food to the mouth. If you are left-handed, keep the fork in the left hand. Your empty left-hand goes into your lap.
When cutting again, pick up the fork with your right hand and transfer the fork to the left hand again, and using the right hand, retrieve the knife from the top of the plate. Cut one piece at a time and repeat until finished.
The paused position is when you leave the knife at the top of the plate and your fork rested, faced up at the 5 o’clock position.
When finished eating, we place the knife and fork in a 5 o’clock position with the fork facing upwards and the knife with the jagged part facing the fork, not outside.
