Sep 5, 2011
Peculiar dinner-related manners from around the world
The American example of a culinary custom on this list is nonsense. No soup with wine? Please.
I’ll have wine with whatever the cuss I want. And that, my friends, is the real American way.
Perhaps the rest of the list is more legit, I have no idea. Let us know if you can confirm the accuracy of any of these.
(via Lapham’s Quarterly, Rats Off)
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I can tell you that the one about holding your fork tines down is true in Australia as well as England. We are taught from childhood that it is really uncouth to use your fork with the concave side up.
I’m not sure where they got these “manners” from, but in the Japan I lived in until very recently, arriving more than a few minutes late for dinner would be an insult to your hosts.
I’ve never actually had wine at a dinner party in Romania, but one of the things I did learn there was that if you asked for seconds, you had BETTER finish them completely, or your host will think you hated the food (yes, even though you already finished the first portion entirely).
However, in South Korea, if you finish everything on your plate at a restaurant, it signals the server that you want more, and your plate will be refilled. You have to leave some food on the plate in order to show that you’re finished.
This list is wrong. You arrive late for dinner in Japan, and you don’t lick your chopsticks in Japan. You aren’t even supposed to close your mouth over them like you would a fork.
Are you dyslexic? ‘Cause… that’s EXACTLY what it says…
Still puzzled by the drinking in Ainus one.
I swear at birds while I am carving them, but I hardly ever chew with my mouth closed now days.
I always drink as much as possible, banquet or no!
The fork tines facing down bit is definitely true for Western table etiquette, though I don’t know of anyone who is so staunch that they actually observe it. I imagine quite a few of the other are the same situation. Although, I’m not 100% sure, but the part about leaving no rice in your bowl with China might now be right. I think I remember a few of my friends from that area from college telling me that if you don’t leave a little bit of food in your bowl that they will just continue to refill it over and over. It signifies to the hostess that you are done eating when you no longer eat and there is still food in your bowl. If you eat it all, it can easily be confused with “Can I have more please?” LOL Which could be quite uncomfortable.