Table manners

Table manners
Don´t stuff your mouth full of food, it looks disgusting, and you could choke. Chew with your mouth closed. No one wants to be grossed out seeing food being chewed up or hearing it being chomped on. This includes not talking with your mouth open.  Don´t make any rude comments about any food being served. It will hurt someone´s feelings. Always say „thank you“ when serv ed somethign. Show appreciation. If the meal is not buffet style, then wait until  everyone is served before eating. It shows consideration.
 
Always use a napkin to wipe your mouth and keep it on your lap when not in use. Remeber , only dab your mouth. Don´t wipe your face or blow your nose J with a napkin. Both are gross. Excuse yourself from the table and go to the restroom to do those things.
 
Whether there is company or whether a family is alone at the dinner table, the tablecloth must be spotless, and the table is carefully set as though twenty people were coming for dinner. Sloppy service should not be tolerated every day neither at home nor at a dinner party, and as far as etiquette is concerned, you should live in exactly the same way whether there is company or none. The table must be decorated and a certain form observed at the dinner hour. Letters, newspapers, books have no place at a dinner table. Reading at the table is allowable at breakfast and when eating alone, but just as a man and his wife would not allow their children to read in front of them, they shuld not read at lunch or dinner in front of each other or their children.
 
There are different styles of dining. One is called American which means you cut the meat with the knife in your right hand and fork in the left, but switch the fork from the left to right after cutting the meat. The fork prongs are curved up to scoop up food. The European style is where you keep the knife in your right hand /if you are right- handed/, and eat with your fork in the left. The fork prongs are kept curved down.

There is some etiquette to the placement of the fork and knife to indicate to the waiter when you are finished with your meal. Simply place the fork and knife side-by-side on the plat, with the handles at either 3:OO or  5:OO. The prongs of the fork can be up or down, but generally when eating European style, the prongs are down. As a general rule, while you are eating and resting between bites, the handles of the fork or knife are not supposed to touch the table once used. Place the knife at the top of the plate with the sharp edge facing towards you. When finished with soup, the spoon should be placed on the accompanying saucer or plate.