Food Etiquette

Food etiquette can differ from one cultural group to the other. What is acceptable in China may not be the case in Brittan. Basic food etiquette in the Western World is a vast topic with some grey areas of controversy. An example of food etiquette on which people differ would be how spaghetti should be eaten. In South Africa one will often be provided with a spoon when spaghetti is served while in Italy it will be frowned upon.

Some dishes or types of food have a lot of people guessing about their prescribed food etiquette. One of these would be lobster. Tackling lobster with a knife and fork may seem civilized but is not necessarily etiquette. Lobster eating is a hands-on exercise with a lot of twisting and poking…all of which are totally acceptable.

Food etiquette when eating chicken or turkey allows for it to be eaten with fingers on informal occasions like barbeques or finger buffets. On any other occasion knives and forks are appropriate.

Food etiquette for eating soup allows one to tilt the bowl away from oneself and scooping the soup with a soupspoon. Bread rolls should not be sliced and buttered in one swoop. Rather break of a piece and butter one piece at a time before eating it. Dragging a piece of bread through a soup bowl to finish the last remaining bit would be frowned on in polite society.

The basis of food etiquette is to not offend other guests at the table. Slurping food or gulping it down like a hungry wolf would be totally out of the question. Being polite and thanking the wait-staff will go a long way to eradicate any unintended food etiquette blunders.