A detailed explanation of English table manners

When studying or working in the UK, you must know the importance of British manners. So you must know English table manners, or others will think you are disrespectful. Let's look at table manners in Britain.

I'm afraid it's hard to compare English food in western food with French food and Italian food, and the British are famous for their love of "fast food", which makes it more difficult for China people who love food and have a long food culture to have a sense of identity. The British pay attention to the choice of raw materials and table manners, which are rarely compared with western countries.

I'm afraid the British are world-famous for their manners. On weekdays, "thank you" and "sorry" never leave their mouths. As long as they feel that they have caused a little trouble to others, even if you step on them, they will rush to say "I'm sorry!" " It sounds like a joke, but it is a true portrayal of the British. In the restaurant, the British will say "thank you!" " When they get the menu. When you order, you will say "thank you!" When serving food, you will say "thank you!" When you get the bill, you will say "thank you!" " Even if he pays you, he will say "thank you!" " . For such "consideration", even China people from the state of etiquette may find it difficult to adapt.

For table manners, the British attach great importance to the cultivation of children from an early age. From the first day their children go to the table, parents begin to give them tangible or intangible "table manners education", hoping to help them develop good dining habits and learn good dining manners. So in English restaurants, you can't hear anyone calling "waiter" or "miss", and you can't hear anyone at any table talking about it. On the contrary, even though they may have thought about what to eat today on the first day, they will patiently look at the menu and then sit quietly waiting for the waiter to come and order. Even if they are sitting in an easily forgotten corner, they will try to communicate with the waiter with their eyes or waves and try to avoid making any noise. When eating, everyone will eat quietly in their seats, talk quietly, and even replace laughter with a smile, for fear of disturbing the people around them. Of course, traditional western etiquette, such as not making a sound when eating soup, chewing food with your mouth closed, and speaking after swallowing food, is also an important part of British table manners.

Some parts of English table manners

1. Appointment:

In the west, you usually have to make an appointment in advance to eat in a restaurant. Pay special attention to make it clear when making an appointment. First of all, you should indicate the number of people and the time. Secondly, you should indicate whether you want a smoking seat or a seat with a good view. If it is a birthday or other special day, you can tell the purpose and budget of the banquet. It is basic courtesy to arrive at the scheduled time. In case of emergency, inform in advance to cancel the positioning and apologize.

No matter how expensive casual clothes are, you can't go to a high-end western restaurant for dinner at will. It is common sense for Europeans and Americans to dress appropriately. When going to a high-end western restaurant, men should dress neatly; Ladies should wear evening dresses or suits and shoes with heels. Ladies should put on more makeup, because the light in the restaurant is dim. If formal attire is specified, the man must wear a tie. When entering the restaurant, men should open the door first, and ladies should enter and walk in front. When sitting down and ordering wine, ladies should be invited to taste and decide.

Generally, the business hours of western restaurants are 165438+ 0: 30 noon to afternoon and after 6: 30 pm. If the guests arrive early, they can have a drink in the bar before entering the main restaurant.

sit down

Sit tight, so you don't have to order in a hurry. If you have any questions, you can ask the waiter directly. They are usually happy to answer any questions you ask. If they are not sure, they will ask the restaurant manager or chef.

It is impolite to eat too early. Arrive at the western restaurant at noon 1 1 or at 5: 30 pm, eat in a hurry and leave. Talk about business at the dinner table, dress casually, eat the main course too slowly and affect the next course, or just order appetizers without ordering the main course and dessert.

Although the appetizer of high-end western food is small, it is exquisite and worth tasting slowly. After dinner, you can choose dessert or cheese, coffee, tea, etc. Different countries have different tipping habits. But be sure to praise and express your gratitude.

To a great extent, eating western food means eating emotional appeal: marble fireplace, glittering crystal lamp, silver candlestick, colorful wine and people's elegant and charming manners, which is a touching oil painting in itself. In order to make you more skilled when you taste western food for the first time, it is worthwhile to spend some time familiarizing yourself with these dining etiquette.

Don't fiddle with the tableware already set on the table before eating. Fold the napkin in half and gently put it on your knee. Napkin cloth can be used to wipe your mouth or hands. It should be folded diagonally into a triangle or parallel into a rectangle. All stains should be wiped inside, and the appearance should always be neat. When you leave your seat, even if you leave temporarily, you should take off the tablecloth, fold it into a square or triangle at will, and put it on the edge of the plate or the foot of the table, preferably on your own seat.

When sitting, sit up straight, don't put your elbows on the table, and don't cross your legs. The distance between people and the table is more suitable for using tableware.

Use a knife and fork

Placement rules: When eating with a knife and fork, take the knife and fork from outside to inside. Under normal circumstances (left-handed people can take it in reverse, but they should put it back after eating), holding a fork in their left hand and a knife in their right hand; When using a knife, the blade should not be outward. When eating, put down the knife and fork in a figure of eight and put them on the edge of the plate respectively. The blade is pointed at yourself, indicating that you will continue to eat. After each dish is served, put the knife and fork together on the plate, indicating that the waiter can remove the tableware. If you are talking, you can hold the knife and fork. When you don't use a knife, you can hold a fork in your right hand, but if you need to gesture, you should put down your knife and fork. Never hold a knife and fork in the air, nor wipe your mouth with a napkin in one hand, let alone a cup with a fork in the other. Please remember, at any time, don't put one end of the knife and fork on the plate and the other end on the table.

Knives, forks and spoons used in western food have their own uses and cannot be replaced or mixed.

Knives are used to cut food. Don't stir the food with a knife, send it to your mouth. Remember: knife in your right hand. If there are three kinds of knives with different specifications at the same time when eating, the correct usage is: the one with small serrations is used to cut meat for food; Medium size is used to cut large vegetables into small pieces; There is also a kind of knife with a round tip and some upturned knives at the top, which are used to cut buns, and then use it to pick some jam and cream to spread on them.

Hold a fork in your left hand and move gently when you fork food to your mouth. Pick up the right amount of food and put it in your mouth at one time. When the fork picks up the food and enters the mouth, the teeth only touch the food. Don't bite the fork, and don't let the knife and fork make a sound on your teeth or plate.

Spoons, in formal occasions, there are many kinds of spoons, the small ones are used to hold coffee and dessert, that is, dessert; Buttered and cake-sharing apartments; Larger, used to drink soup or hold snacks; The biggest one is used to divide soup, which is very common in buffets.

Eat gracefully

Bread is usually broken into small pieces and sent to the mouth. Don't bite the whole piece of bread. When spreading butter and jam, break the bread into small pieces before spreading it. Shut up and chew when eating, don't lick your lips or smack your lips, and don't make a sucking sound when drinking soup. If the soup is overheated, don't eat it until it is slightly cold. Don't blow it with your mouth. When drinking soup, scoop it from the inside out with a spoon. When the soup in the soup plate is almost finished, tilt the outside of the soup plate slightly with your left hand and scoop it out with a spoon. After eating the soup, leave the spoon in the soup plate (bowl) and aim the spoon at yourself. Don't spit directly when eating fish, meat and other dishes with thorns or bones. Cover your mouth with a napkin, spit it gently on a fork and put it on a plate. Eat noodles, roll them up with a fork and put them in your mouth.

5. Desserts and drinks

If you need to add milk or sugar to your coffee, stir it evenly with a spoon, and then put the spoon on the saucer of the coffee. When drinking, hold the cup handle in your right hand and pad the plate in your left hand. Don't drink spoonfuls. Don't bite the whole fruit when eating it. You should first cut it into four pieces with a fruit knife, then remove the skin and core with a knife and eat it with a fork.

5. The combination of wine and food

What kind of food should be eaten when drinking has always been a problem that puzzles people. For hundreds of years, choosing the right food when drinking seems to have formed a law. However, with the emergence of new foods and new wines in modern society, these rules are outdated and increasingly unsuitable.

How to mix drinking and food must first understand that life is different due to personal preferences, and the combination of drinking and food must undoubtedly be matched with personal tastes at will. You can order wine and vegetables according to your own taste, even if the rules don't allow it, or the friends who eat at the same table are firmly opposed, you don't have to be shy or embarrassed. There are many things in life that seem to be mismatched, but they still seem so harmonious. But what should you do when you still can't decide what wine to use for dinner? Will you turn to these rules? Over the years, I have accumulated some experience that can solve your problem. These so-called "principles" do not tell you what to eat when drinking, but only explain how food and alcohol interact and interact with each other. When drinking, it is important to match food according to taste. Food and alcohol can be divided into four flavors, which define the range of wine and food collocation, namely: sour, sweet, bitter and salty.

Sour taste: You may have heard that wine can't go with salad, because the acid in salad greatly destroys the mellow taste of wine. But if salad and sour wine are used together, the acid contained in wine will be decomposed by lactic acid of salad, which is of course an excellent match. So you can choose acidic wine and acidic food to eat together. Acidic wine with salty food tastes good.

Sweetness: When dining, you can also choose dessert according to your personal taste. Generally speaking, sweets will weaken the taste of sweet wine. If you choose Chattonny in California with a small piece of grilled swordfish, the wine will be very sweet. However, if you put salad on fish, the fruit flavor in wine will be much less. Therefore, when eating desserts, desserts with high sugar content will cover up the taste of wine and lose its original flavor. You should choose a slightly sweeter wine. Only in this way can the wine keep its original flavor.

Bitterness: Still use the principle of "personal preference". Bitter wine and bitter food will reduce the bitterness. So if you want to reduce or eliminate bitterness, you can mix bitter wine with bitter food.

Salty taste: generally, there is no salty wine, but there are many wines that can reduce the salty taste of salty food. Many countries and regions in the world use lemon juice or alcohol when eating seafood such as fish. The main reason is that acid can reduce the salinity of fish and make it more delicious.

Propose a toast

As a guest of honor, when attending a banquet held in a foreign country, you should know each other's toasting habits, that is, why and when to toast, so as to make necessary preparations. When clinking glasses, the host and guest touch first, and many people can raise their glasses at the same time, not necessarily clinking glasses. Be careful not to cross glasses when toasting. When the host and guest make speeches and toasts, they should stop eating and talking, pay attention to listening, and don't take this opportunity to smoke. Stand still while playing the national anthem. After the host and guests talk and clink glasses with the distinguished guests, they usually go to other tables to propose a toast. In this case, they should stand up and raise their glasses. When clinking glasses, greet each other visually.

It is friendly and lively to toast each other at the party, but don't drink too much. Drinking too much is easy to get rude, even rude, so I must control it within one-third of my alcohol consumption.

7. Encounter unexpected circumstances

In the banquet, if something unusual happens due to carelessness, for example, the knife and fork hit the plate too hard and make a noise, or the tableware fell to the ground, or the drink spilled, and so on. You should be calm and don't worry. When the tableware makes a noise, you can gently say "sorry" to your neighbor (or your host). If it is dropped, the waiter can send a set of tableware. Apologize if the wine spills on the neighbor and help dry it; If the other person is a woman, just hand me a clean napkin or handkerchief and dry it yourself.