《american table manners》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《american table manners（8页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、American Table MannersThe Role of Manners?There is not much call for a complete working knowledge of table manners in America today. Many families only gather all at once around the dinner table at holiday feasts, and most restaurants are too casual to require, or even to allow for, more than basic
2、good table manners. If, having dropped his napkin, a diner at a bistro were to attempt to practice proper etiquette by signaling a member of the staff to bring a fresh one, he would probably have to do without a napkin at all. Try as he might to make eye contact and indicate the nature of the proble
3、m with a subtle wiggle of the eyebrow and downward flicker of the glance, he is likely to succeed only in causing his date to think he is making a play for the server. Although strict good manners forbid placing a used eating utensil back on the table, the server removing a plate on which a fork has
4、 quite properly been positioned pointing at 11 oclock might just plop that item back where it started, making more of a clatter than if the diner had simply done it herself. From time to time - perhaps at an important business dinner, a romantic date at an expensive restaurant, or a first dinner wit
5、h the family of the person who may be the One - it is necessary to display a more sophisticated knowledge of table etiquette. This is not difficult, once you have mastered the basics. Anyone armed with this core knowledge and the ability to adapt smoothly to the situation at hand will be able to han
6、dle even the most formal event. The goal is not, after all, to demonstrate utter mastery of the most arcane details of etiquette (which would be quite difficult considering the wide variations of customs in different cultures and from generation to generation), but rather to behave with graciousness
7、 and poise at the table. Mastering the BasicsMuch of the difficulty encountered in learning table manners derives from the struggle to master the ritual handling of the various tools involved. In order to display the right social veneer, it is necessary to sit at the table with elegant ease and wiel
8、d the utensils with aplomb. The diner who leaves the napkin folded on his plate until it obstructs the placement of his appetizer plate reveals his lack of training. The dinner party guest who observes with dismay the array of flatware on either side of her plate, need only take the time to learn th
9、e simple secret to the plan. There are, of course, a few tips and pitfalls to be aware of, as well as the occasional surprising item you can eat with your hands. Here is a quick guide which will help steer you through even the most formal of occassions.The Secret of the Formal Place Setting There is
10、 a general consensus among writers of etiquette manuals that too many people are afraid they will fail to choose the proper utensil for the appropriate stage of the meal. Book after book provides reassurance on this point: use the outermost utensil or utensils, as necessary, one set for each course,
11、 and you cant go wrong (unless the table has been improperly laid to start out with). For a formal place setting, you will receive exactly as much silverware as you will need, arranged in precisely the right order. Good etiquette requires you to assume (and this ought to ease most peoples worries) t
12、hat the host has correctly assigned each utensil to its task, rather than attempt to point out that a fish fork is improperly being supplied for your salad. As each course is finished, the silverware will be removed with the dish, leaving you with a clean slate, all ready for the next item to arrive
13、. Common sense forbids arranging battalions of forks and knives at the sides of the plate, so on the extremely rare occasions that more than three or four courses are planned, new silverware will be brought to you after all of the original setting has been used. In this 1902 photograph from Mrs. See
14、lys Cook-Book (with Chapters on Domestic Servants, their Rights and Duties), the proper place setting shown is little different from the examples provided in Judith Martins Miss Manners etiquette books, in spite of the fact that it is nearly a century old. The plate in this setting is known as a ser
15、vice plate, and is never actually eaten from. It will either be removed when the first course is brought, or the dish will be set on top of it. A person faced with this array can expect to dine on: Oysters, as appetizer Use the small fork angled into the soupspoon at right. This is the one exception
16、 to the rule of placing forks to the left of the plate. Soup The soupspoon is commonly the only spoon provided for the initial place setting. Salad Note the thicker tine at the left of the fork, which strengthens the tool - for right handed people - for use in cutting large salad greens without having to resort to the knife. Fish Both a fork and a knife are provided for fish. Sometimes the fish knife has a silver blade, because fish, which is often served with lemon, r
