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Page 15
The knife and fork should never be held in the same hand together, and
when not being used, one or both of the utensils should rest on the
plate. They should never be allowed to rest against the edge of the
plate with the handles on the table; when one is through with both the
knife and fork, they should be placed entirely on the plate, their tips
touching at the center, their handles resting against the edge. They are
never placed back again on the table.
The foods eaten with the fork are meats, vegetables, fish, salads,
oysters and clams, lobster, ices, frozen puddings and melons. Hearts of
lettuce and lettuce leaves are folded up with the fork and conveyed uncut
to the mouth. If the leaves are too large to be folded conveniently,
they may be cut with the blunt edge of the fork--never with a knife.
FINGER FOODS
Various foods are eaten with the fingers instead of fork or spoon.
Bread, for instance, is never cut but always broken into small pieces and
lifted to the mouth with the fingers. Butter is seldom provided at the
formal dinner, but if it is, each little piece of bread is buttered
individually just before it is eaten. Crackers and cake are eaten in the
same way; although some cakes and pastries are eaten with the fork.
Those that can be eaten daintily with the fingers such as macaroons,
lady-fingers, cookies, etc., should be eaten so while layer cake and
elaborate pastries should be eaten with the fork.
Corn on the cob is without a doubt one of the most difficult foods to eat
gracefully. And yet it is too delicious to forego the pleasure of eating
it at all. It is entirely permissible to use the fingers in eating corn,
holding it lightly at each end; sometimes a napkin is used in holding it.
Many a foresighted hostess, when serving corn on the cob, provides each
guest with a short, keen, steel-bladed knife with which the kernels may
be cut from the cob easily. This is by far the most satisfactory method.
French artichokes are also difficult to eat. The proper way is to break
them apart, leaf by leaf, dip the tips in the sauce and lift them to the
mouth with the fingers. The heart is cut and eaten with a fork.
Lobster claws may be pulled apart with the fingers. Shrimps also, when
served whole in their shells, may be separated, peeled and eaten with the
fingers. Fruits such as oranges, apples, grapes, peaches and plums are
all eaten with the fingers. Celery, radishes and olives are similarly
eaten. Sometimes there are other relishes on the dinner table, and the
guest must use his common sense to determine whether they are eaten with
the fork or fingers. Bonbons, of course, are always eaten with the
fingers.
Whenever fruits are served the finger-bowl should follow. It is always
used at the completion of the dinner. The bowl is half filled with tepid
water and set upon a plate. A fragrant leaf may be added to the water.
The fingers are dipped lightly into the bowl, one hand at a time, and
then dried on the napkin. It is a mark of ill breeding to splash the
water about, to put both hands into the bowl at once, or to wet the
entire palm of the hand. Only the finger tips should touch the water.
TABLE ACCIDENTS
"Accidents will happen"--at the dinner table as well as anywhere else.
The duty of the guest and the hostess both is to see that no confusion
and embarrassment follows.
If a spoon or fork or napkin is dropped, the proper thing to do is to
allow the servant to pick it up; the well-trained servant will not return
it, but place it aside and give the guest another one. If a glass or cup
is dropped and broken, embarrassed apologies will not put it together
again, but a word of sincere regret to the hostess will relieve the
awkwardness of the moment, and will be as gratifying to her as profuse
apologies. If the article broken is a valuable one, the guest may
replace it by sending, a day or two later, another one as nearly like it
as possible. A cordial note of regret may accompany it.
Sometimes a cup of coffee or a glass of water is overturned at the table.
This is, of course, a very serious and unpleasant accident, but there is
no necessity in making matters worse by fussing about it and offering
several exaggerated apologies. A simple word or two to the hostess will
suffice; but it is really quite important that one should be careful not
to let an accident of this kind happen too often, otherwise one will soon
acquire the reputation of being a clumsy boor.
There is certainly no reason to feel embarrassed when an accident occurs
at the dinner table that is, of course, if it was not due to
carelessness. It is not the accident itself that will cause the guests
and the hostess to consider one ill-bred, but continued mention of it and
many flustered apologies. "I am sorry" or "How careless of me!" are
sufficient offers of regret--the matter should then be forgotten.
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