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tips4me.com - dining etiquette | DINING ETIQUETTE |  | | Raising A Toast | | Some people find toasting intimidating, especially in front of a crowd, but there are some secrets that can make it easier whether it be at a New Year's Eve party, wedding, or birthday celebration.
Toasting Techniques:
To get the group's attention, never bang on a glass; simply stand, holding your glass in the air. (Toasts should be offered standing, unless at a private, small affair or in a public restaurant.)
The person being toasted remains seated.
Don't hold your glass in the air during your toast. Set it down after you get their attention, make your toast, then raise your glass and ask the others to raise theirs for your formal, final words. You can also ask the group to stand for the final words.
Guests respond by taking a sip of their drink, not draining the glass. For those not drinking alcohol, toasting with water or a soft drink is acceptable. The person being toasted does not drink.
The guest of honor often returns the toast, thanking the host for their kind words and then proposing a toast of their own to the host.
Remember:
It's all in the delivery
First and foremost, don't start off the toast by apologizing for any problems you think you may have in delivering it. Making your listeners aware that you are nervous will make them uncomfortable too. In order to feel more comfortable get familiar with the place and the people you will speak to. Of course you want to be eloquent, so speak slowly, clearly and loud enough if a microphone is not available.
Finally, if the toast is to honor a certain person, a fun story about him or her is appropriate, but refrain from referring to an "inside joke" which only a few people would understand.
Humor is good, humiliation is not
It is ok to open up the history books and tell some fun anecdotes during a toast but avoid anything that will potentially embarrass you or others.
Keep the toast clean especially if there are children in the room. Make sure to end on a bright note.
For the toasted
If you are the one receiving the toast stay seated. If you stand it seems as if you are congratulating yourself. The person being toasted never drinks to him/herself nor even touches their glass during the toast. However, the person being toasted should always stand up and respond to the toast when it is finished.
The rules change a bit if the toast is not directed at a particular person but is meant for everyone in the room. In that case, everyone can join in.
Champagne or wine are traditional for making toasts, but non-alcoholic beverages such as water, juice and soda are acceptable substitutes. So go on and raise a toast to good toasting times! | | Formal Dinning Must Dos (Eating Soup) | 
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Soup, usually the first course, shows you off as a savvy diner or someone whose manners could do with polishing! Soup is served either in a wide, shallow dish, or a smaller bowl, resting on an under-plate. Spoon the soup away from you, towards the centre of the bowl. Sip from the side of the spoon. Never put the whole spoon in your mouth or slurp. Noisy eating is better placed in the farmyard, rather than the dining table! Tip the bowl away from you and spoon the soup across the bowl to get at the last bits. After finishing the soup, place the spoon in the under-plate, or in the soup plate at a 10:20 position.
| | Formal Dinning Must Dos (Placing The Dinner Napkin) |
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Most of us are still ignorant about the proper use of a dinner napkin. One thing is for certain, the napkin should NEVER be tucked under the chin, unless of course one is 5 years old or younger! Lift the napkin soon after you are seated and place it on your lap. However, at more formal occasions wait for a signal from the host before doing so. Use the napkin throughout the meal to dab your lips. This prevents greasy lip marks from being transferred to the glass and of course removes unsightly food residue from lips! The napkin rests on the lap till the end of the meal. Place the napkin in loose folds to the left of your plate. If you have to leave the table during the meal, leave the napkin on your chair. Don't clean the cutlery or wipe your face with the napkin. NEVER use it to wipe your nose!
| | Formal Dinning Must Dos (Breaking Bread) |
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Bread is usually the first food served at all, but the most formal of meals. Help yourself to as much bread as you want, but remember that this is just the beginning of the meal and not the meal itself. Good manners also demand that a piece of bread be left back in the basket. Bread is served either in a basket, which is placed in the centre of the table, or served individually. Take a piece and place it on the bread dish, which is to the left of the dinner plate. Wait for everyone to be served before you start eating. Break off just a bite sized piece of the bread. Don't cut the bread, don't butter the entire slice, and most important, don't dunk it in your soup! Butter is usually placed in an individual container, just above the bread plate. Take some butter, using the butter knife, if there is one, or the meat knife, and place it at the edge of the bread dish. Butter only a single, bite-sized piece of bread at a time. If butter is served in a bowl, which is kept in the centre of the table, a separate butter knife always accompanies it. Use this, and not your knife to help yourself. Other diners will certainly not appreciate having to share crumbs from your bread!
| | Formal Dinning Must Dos (Eating Tricky Foods) |
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Have you tried eating corn on the cob with a knife and fork? How about chicken wings? Yes, it can be done, but is devilishly difficult and does not cut a pretty picture! So how does one decide when to use the cutlery and when to abandon it for the comfort of eating with one's hand? Here's a short list of food one can pick and eat without cutlery: Artichokes, asparagus, cheese and crackers, chicken and other small fiddly bits of fowl, corn on the cob, escargots (snails), some fresh fruit, French fries, shellfish like shrimp, lobster and crabs claws, mussels, clams and oysters on the half shell, pizza and sandwiches. It goes without saying that even for these foods, there are rules. Don't pick up chicken, squab, or asparagus that is drenched with sauce; go easy with the butter on the corn and after cracking shellfish, eat the meat with a fork. The whole idea is to be comfortable but neat! When you have finished, resist the temptation to lick your fingers; use a finger bowl or napkin to get rid of the greasy bit.
| | Which Is The Best Way To Eat Spaghetti? | |
Some food is exceedingly difficult to handle and seems to rest in the plate only to make life difficult while eating it. Spaghetti strands drape themselves on our chin, artichokes baffle us, and peas bring back childhood memories of 'No, I won't eat them, I hate vegetables!' Here are some tips to make eating difficult foods easier. French onion soup
Anyone who has eaten French onion soup will think twice before ordering for it when in the company of someone they want to impress the cheese ends up all over the face or clothes! To avoid this, take some of the stretchy cheese in your spoon and cut it against the edge of the soup bowl. Eat this along with the soup. The bread can then be cut, again with your soupspoon, and eaten with the soup. Pasta
Some pasta like linguine, fettuccine, and spaghetti can be a bit troublesome to eat. Use a fork to eat your pasta, and not the fork and spoon combination. Twirl the strands of pasta around till it is neatly wrapped around the fork and nothing is dangling down. In case some of it unravels, bite off (don't suck in) what ever you can't fit into your mouth comfortably.
| | How Do I Handle Artichokes? | |
Artichokes
Artichokes are served whole, in a plate, with a bowl of butter or sauce on the side. Peel out the outer leaves one by one, dip the meaty base of the leaf in butter and pull it through your teeth to remove the edible bits. Discard the leaf. When you get to the heart, scrape away the thistle with a knife and fork cut the heart into bits and eat with a fork. Peas
There are two commonly used methods for eating peas. The first involves the use of a knife and fork. Holding the knife in your right hand, and the fork, prongs turned down, in your left, push some peas onto the fork. This works better if you already have some meat or larger vegetable to serve as a support for the peas. You may also spear the peas with the prongs of the fork. Alternately, hold the fork prongs turned up in your right hand and scoop up the peas. Dont ever mash and eat peas!
| | Skillfully Managing Kebabs And Shellfish | |
Kebabs
Ethnic foods like satay and kebabs are often served on skewers. There's no way you can eat them off the skewer, without doing yourself damage, so don't try it. Hold the skewer in your left hand and using the tines of the fork, gently ease the kebabs, one piece at a time onto your plate. Don't wrench wildly! A bit of steady pressure works wonders on the stubborn pieces. Shellfish
Shellfish, like lobster and crab, is messy to eat, and is probably best enjoyed at home or in informal company. However, if you have to eat it in polite society, this is how it's done. Hold onto the claw or shell with your hand, and crack with a nutcracker. Extract the meat using a fork and dip in butter or sauce. Eat with a knife and fork. The small claws can be cleaned and the meat sucked out, as if through a straw. Soft shell crab is cut and eaten as it is, with a knife and fork.
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