Eating+Etiquette

Eating Etiquette What should I do or not do when I am eating in Britain? The British generally pay a lot of attention to good table manners. Even young children are expected to eat properly with knife and fork. We eat most of our food with cutlery. The foods we don't eat with a knife, fork or spoon include sandwiches, crisps, corn on the cob, and fruit.

> **__Things you should do__: ** If you cannot eat a certain type of food or have some special needs, tell your host several days before the dinner party. If you are a guest, it is polite to wait until your host starts eating or indicates you should do so. It shows consideration. Always chew and swallow all the food in your mouth before taking more or taking a drink. Always say thank you when served something. It shows appreciation. You may eat **chicken** and **pizza** with your fingers if you are at a barbecue, finger buffet or very informal setting. Otherwise always use a knife and fork.

When **eating rolls**, break off a piece of bread before buttering. Eating it whole looks tacky. On **formal dining occasions** it is good manners to take some butter from the butter dish with your bread knife and put it on your side plate (for the roll). Then butter pieces of the roll using this butter. This prevents the butter in the dish getting full of bread crumbs as it is passed around. In a restaurant, it is normal to pay for your food by putting your money on the plate the bill comes on.



When you have finished eating, and to let others know that you have, place your knife and folk together, with the prongs (tines) on the fork facing upwards, on your plate.


 * __Things you should not do: __**

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Never lick or put your knife in your mouth.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is impolite to start eating before everyone has been served unless your host says that you don't need to wait.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Never chew with your mouth open. No one wants to see food being chewed or hearing it being chomped on.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is impolite to have your elbows on the table while you are eating.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Don't reach over someone's plate for something, ask for the item to be passed.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Never talk with food in your mouth.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is impolite to put too much food in your mouth.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Never use your fingers to push food onto your spoon or fork.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is impolite to slurp your food or eat noisily. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Never blow your nose on a napkin (serviette). Napkins are for dabbing your lips and only for that. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Never take food from your neighbours plate. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Never pick food out of your teeth with your fingernails.

> <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">**__Things that are ok to do__**: <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">It is ok to pour your own drink when eating with other people, but it is more polite to offer pouring drinks to the people sitting on either side of you. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">It is ok to put milk and sugar in your tea and coffee or to drink them both without either. > <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">I am not used to eating with a knife and fork. What do I need to know? <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">We eat continental style, with fork in the left hand and the knife in the right (or the other way round if you are left handed). At the top of your plate will be a dessert spoon and dessert fork. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">If you are eating at a formal dinner party, you will come across many knives and forks. Start with the utensils on the outside and work your way inward with each subsequent course > <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to eat with a knife and fork in England <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">The fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">If you have a knife in one hand, it is wrong to have a fork in the other with the prongs (tines) pointed up.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Hold your knife with the handle in your palm and your folk in the other hand with the prongs pointing downwards. || <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;"> || <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">When eating in formal situations, rest the fork and knife on the plate between mouthfuls, or for a break for conversation. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">If you put your knife down, you can turn your fork over. It's correct to change hands when you do this, too, so if you are right handed you would switch and eat with the fork in your right hand. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">[[image:http://www.projectbritain.com/images/eti/fork.jpg width="251" height="180" align="center" caption="How to hold a fork"]]
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to hold a fork || <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to hold a knife  ||

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">If it is your sole eating instrument, the fork should be held with the handle between the index finger and the thumb and resting on the side of your middle finger.

> <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to eat Soup <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">When eating **soup**, tip the bowl away from you and scoop the soup up with your spoon.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Soup should always be taken (without slurping of course) from the side of the spoon, and not from the 'end' as in most of the rest of Europe. > **<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to eat peas ** <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">To be very polite, peas should be crushed onto the fork - a fork with the prongs pointing down. The best way is to have load the fork with something to which they will stick, such as potato or a soft vegetable that squashes easily onto the fork. It's sometimes easier to put down your knife and then switch your fork to the other hand, so you can shovel the peas against something else on the plate, thus ensuring they end up on your fork. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">The fork should not be used as a scoop but held so that the points of the tines face > **<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to eat pudding (desserts) ** <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">To eat dessert, break the dessert with the spoon, one bite at a time. Push the food with the fork (optional) into the spoon. Eat from the spoon. (Fork in left hand; spoon in right.) <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">

> **<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">How to use a napkin or serviette ** <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">The golden rule is that a napkin should never be used to blow your nose on. This is a definite no-no. Napkins should be placed across the lap - tucking them into your clothing may be considered 'common'. > <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">What do you say or do if you've accidentally taken too much food and you cannot possibly eat it all? <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">Say: //<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">"I'm sorry, but it seems that 'my eyes are bigger than my stomach'. // <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">or //<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">"I'm sorry. It was so delicious but I am full". // <span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 160%;">The main thing is not to offend your host