Category Archives: Dining Etiquette

Spacing Individual Place Settings

When spacing individual place settings at the table, you don’t want your guests to be so close they bump elbows or spill food on one another, but you also don’t want them so far apart that conversation is difficult and … Continue reading

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The Dessert Fork and Spoon

If you see a fork and spoon positioned on the table above your plate, it does not mean the host was so considerate to have given you a choice of dessert utensils.  It means you will be served a dessert … Continue reading

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How To Eat Cherries

It’s the time of year when cherries are ripe and plentiful. Don’t be discouraged from eating this healthy and tasty fruit in public because you don’t know how to eat the fruit and properly discard the pit. Follow these tips … Continue reading

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Dining Posture

Proper posture is essential when dining. Sit with a straight back.  Lean forward from your hips ever so slightly as you bring your food from your plate to your mouth. Do not round the back or bring your head down … Continue reading

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Where Is Your Bread Plate And Water Glass?

It is not uncommon to see place settings very close together in an effort to seat as many people at one table as possible.  This is not the appropriate manner in which to set a table, but when we encounter … Continue reading

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Dining Etiquette – When Is It Appropriate To Begin Eating?

Proper etiquette is to wait until your host or hostess has taken the first bite of their meal before you begin eating. This etiquette rule dates back to a time period before food was refrigerated.  The host or hostess would … Continue reading

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Dining Etiquette – The Role of the Napkin

The napkin has several roles when used during a formal dinner. 1)  When the host or hostess places the napkin on her lap, the meal has begun.  Guests should also place their napkin on their lap at this time. 2)  … Continue reading

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How To Eat Soup – Dining Etiquette

Without getting fancy or technical about types of soups or soup bowls, here are the basics of eating soup: 1) Use the soup spoon located on the outer, far right of your place setting. In casual dining situations, the spoon … Continue reading

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Where To Place the Tea Bag

I am frequently asked if a tea bag is placed in the tea pot or tea cup. When the tea is served in a pot, the tea bag is placed in the pot. When served just a cup of tea, … Continue reading

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Dining at a Restaurant Counter

If you are dining at a crowded restaurant counter and notice a couple or party of two looking for two seats together and you are sitting between two empty seats, please offer to move so the couple may be seated … Continue reading

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