Good manners and table behavior: The rules that govern the behavior of hosts to guests during a meal. They have evolved over time and are still different depending on the country.
The Gauls took their meals sitting down, the Greeks and Romans lying down. The Japanese eat seated on their heels, the French hold their hands on the tablecloth, on either side of the table, while the English place them on their knees. Eructation, of the latest rudeness in the West, was a manifestation of civility in ancient Rome, as it still is in Middle-East.
One of the first collections of savoir-vivre was composed by Robert de Blois (XNUMXth century), the customs of chivalry having developed the ceremonial of the table - in particular with the more general use of the table. fork - and the courtesy of the reception.
In this treatise, the author recommends having clean hands and clean fingernails, not to eat pain before the first course, not to grab the best pieces, not to pick your teeth or scratch yourself with your couteau, not to speak with your mouth full, nor to laugh too loudly. Wash hands before and after meal was an obligatory rite: servants presented to the guests a copper basin full of scented water and a napkin. The philosopher and theologian Erasmus (1467-1536) himself wrote, in 1526, a Treatise on Civility, in which he enjoined washing hands and fingernails brushing before going to the table.
An important turning point, at the dawn of the XNUMXth century, is reflected in savoir-vivre, the scope of which reflects the effort of a rich and enlightened society to create an art of living. We speak then, in the Italian manner, of civility and delicacy, while the vocabulary of Food is refined: " Soupe " bECOMES " potage ", the " flat de chair " bECOMES " flat de meat ". This concern for refinement will even turn to the assignment in the following century, with the "small suppers", the medianoche and ambiguous.
After the French Revolution, the number of treaties multiplied, even if customs were sometimes still slow to change: it was not until the middle of the XNUMXth century that people gave up eating chicken with your fingers and turn the s with the hands.
Reciprocal courtesy: Any meal invited is a moment in social life which demands mutual deference and courtesy. Courtesy that begins with accuracy. When the guests are introduced into the dining room, they stand waiting for the hostess to sit down, and it is she who, with each dish, gives the signal for the first. bite ; it is also she who will rise the first of backgammon at the end of meal.
La towel sits on the knees, without being fully extended. It is brought to your mouth by dabbing gently, with both hands against each other. At the end of meal, we put it to the right of theplate, without folding it.
We do not touch the foodstuffs with the fingers, except the pain, which breaks into small parts and not coupe never with the couteau, and some rares dish : artichokes, some sea food ; we can also add the frog legs (but in restaurants, they are often boneless) Et les small birds as the quail (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the ortolan, this last bird being prohibited for sale.
We wipe ourselves off appetizer with his towel before to drink and after drinking. We hold the by the convex part and not by the rod. This part is called the shoulder.
We must strive to to drink without noise. In principle, a woman does not have to be used. She can therefore ask her neighbor to fill her .
When the flat is presented to him, the guest use in moderation, taking the first piece in front of it. The custom is to wait a little before drinking; the master of the house pays or is paid the first drops of each bottle de wine in its , in case there is a fragment of plug. When a dish is finished, the guest leaves his silverware on the plate, grouped on the same side, never in a cross.
In some countries, courtesy is for the guest to leave some food to indicate that he is full; in France, on the contrary, as a tribute to the quality of dish, we finish the content of his plate, but we do not " sauce »Not this one with pain.
Smoking a cigarette can only be considered after the cheese, asking permission from its neighbors. Cigar smokers will have to wait until the moment of digestive to do the same.
The rules of good manners in France : They are different depending on the dish and their service :
- artichokes : They are tasted leaf à leaf (which one detaches by hand), but, in the meal de ceremony, we only serve fonds, garnished ou farcis.
- asparagus On coupe the pointes with the fork and we leave the rest, unless the hostess invites be used of his fingers.
- Boiled egg : He beheads himself with a spoon (or with a egg cutter) and should never be removed from the egg cup ; when it is empty, the shell is crushed.
- Soup : The spoon must address the appetizer by the end; we never incline the plate to collect the last spoonful.
- Pasta (spaghetti): Everyone agrees that you should never cut the spaghetti au couteau, as much the use of spoon is widely discussed (even among experts, French and Italian). In any case, in France, in restaurant or at home, it is allowed to present a spoon to the right of the plate.
- Cheese : They are presented started, so as not to embarrass the guest who would hesitate to do it himself, and cut themselves so as to always take a Part de crust ; In France, cheese is eaten by little ones parts, never at the fork, but posed with the couteau on a small piece de pain ; finally, we do not offer twice the plateau de cheese, which could mean that the meal was not enough copious.
- Fruits : They are maintained with a fork (and not with the fingers) and peeled with a small couteau à desserts.
- Melon : It is tasted, in principle, at the spoon, but some recommend eating it at the fork.
- Salad : We never cut it with a couteau, because, theoretically, it is prepared so that the leaves can be easily put in the mouth. If necessary, we plaice the leaves using the couteau and fork. THE couteau and fork are required for prepared salads.
- Café et liqueurs : They are served in the lounge and not on the backgammon from the dining room.