Table setting in a restaurant. Cutlery. Basic rules of table etiquette

Each of us would do well to brush up on the rules of etiquette at the table, and perhaps even learn something new about how to behave while eating. Most important rules etiquette that absolutely everyone should use.

Each of us notices when someone in a cafe at a nearby table eats carelessly or stealthily wipes his hands on his knees. In the same way, other people notice our mistakes, any behavior is conspicuous and can cause embarrassment. Therefore, it is better to check yourself and correct your own behavior if necessary.

How to behave at the table

General rules apply to any situation, they will never be superfluous. The first thing we pay attention to when we see a person is his posture. Posture characterizes not only the behavior or condition of a person, but also reveals the secrets of his character.

An insecure person will fidget nervously on the edge of a chair, a notorious person will try to slouch in order to become less noticeable. Sit up straight, but in a way that is comfortable for you. Hands can be placed on the edge of the table or on your knees, and it is better to press your elbows to your sides.

By the way, in order to learn how to hold your elbows near the body in Soviet times, it was advised to periodically train - have lunch, holding a couple of weighty books to your elbows. This is necessary so that the correct bodily pattern is formed, and you keep your elbows flawlessly even when you don’t think about it at all.

Rules table etiquette imply almost all situations that can happen to a person and give a clear recommendation on how to act in a given situation.

Naturally, table etiquette at home and restaurant etiquette are somewhat different. However, there are rules that are appropriate in any situation:

do not speak too loudly;
do not take a fork or spoon with food too far from the mouth;
you can not make sounds while eating;
eat calmly, without undue haste.

Restaurant

The rules of conduct in a restaurant imply some composure - you need to behave correctly and with dignity in order to make a good impression on others.

A man must let the lady go first, but if a company of men or women goes to the restaurant, then everyone is on an equal footing or rely on the initiator of the dinner.
If several people are to meet at dinner, and someone is late, then by mutual agreement with the rest of the guests, you can wait for those who are late for about a quarter of an hour. A longer wait is a sign of disrespect for guests who arrived on time.
If you happened to be late, then you should apologize, and then just join the others. Should not be attracted special attention to the fact of being late and explain the reason, just join the table conversation.
During a meeting of a man and a woman in a restaurant, a man should read the menu and offer his companion any dishes. For a girl in this case, expressing her indifference is a sign of bad manners. Etiquette in a restaurant implies the participation of a lady in the choice of dishes.
In a restaurant, you should not conduct a conversation in raised tones and laugh out loud. If this happened by accident, it makes sense to apologize to other visitors and be quieter. Observe table etiquette, and if someone behaves inappropriately at the next table, then this should be reported to the waiter.
You need to start eating when the waiter brought out the ordered dishes to all those present. If a person who is waiting for his dish to be prepared does not mind, he can make an offer to others to start eating.
It is strictly forbidden to engage in hygiene procedures at the table - wipe your face, neck and hands with napkins, comb your hair or tint your lips. If you need to pay attention to your appearance, it is better to do it in a special room. Dining etiquette also does not welcome traces of lipstick on dishes. Before you start eating, the girl should carefully remove the lipstick with a napkin.
Any interaction with food also looks uncivilized - food is on the table in order to eat it. Taking photos for Instagram, blowing on the soup, meticulously poking around in the salad, commenting on the ingredients - is indecent.
If you come across a cartilage or a bone in some dish, you need to carefully return the inedible element back to the spoon and move it to a plate (or napkin).

How to handle appliances

In no case should you check the cleanliness of the appliances, and if you still notice a cloudy spot on the fork or spoon, you need to quietly draw the attention of the waiter to this oversight and politely ask for a replacement.
In most restaurants, the table is set in advance, and cutlery is laid out on both sides of the serving plate.
Do not get lost if there are more dishes on the table than you expected to see - everything has its own purpose, and if you are in doubt about which fork or spoon you should take, you can always see how other guests solve this problem.
Those devices that lie on the left of the plate are used by the left hand, and those that are laid out on the right must be kept in right hand.
With complex serving, each dish relies on its own devices, so if you are in doubt which fork should be taken, take the far one - the one that is furthest from the edge of the plate. As you change dishes, you will gradually approach the nearest appliances.
The knife is used either for cutting food or for spreading pâtés and butter (for example, during breakfasts). You should not try pieces from a knife.
Cut meat or fish should be sequentially, as it is eaten. Cutting the whole portion at once is a bad form. It is generally accepted that this way the dish cools down faster and loses its main flavors.

Learn in advance a few differences between different cutlery, so as not to get into a mess.

Forks

second hot dishes are eaten with a table fork, it has four cloves, and in length it is slightly inferior to the diameter of the plate and is placed on the left;
a fish fork is used for hot fish dishes, it looks smaller than a diner and has four short cloves, a fish fork is easy to recognize by its recesses - they are needed to separate the bones;
snack fork - a reduced duplicate of a table fork, they eat cold snacks with it;
dessert fork - for pies, small, corresponds to the size of a dessert plate and looks atypical;
a fruit fork equipped with two prongs, usually served with a fruit knife;
the remaining forks are considered auxiliary, they are placed next to the dish that they need to eat.

Knives

any second hot dishes are eaten with a table knife, it is placed to the right of the plate, the blade is turned to the plate;
a fish knife is blunt and resembles a spatula, used to separate the flesh of the fish from the bones;
the snack knife is small and has teeth;
dessert and fruit knife look similar - they are the smallest.

spoons

a tablespoon - the largest, lies to the right of the plate;
a dessert spoon is served with a dessert that does not require cutting - soft puddings, jellies and whipped cream;
an ice cream spoon is served with a bowl;
the cocktail spoon has a very narrow and long handle;
a teaspoon can be served with any hot drink;
coffee spoon - the smallest, served only with black coffee.

Dialogue and table manners

Table etiquette includes not only the use of utensils, proper positioning and good posture, but also the manner in which dialogues and conversations are conducted.

It is worth noting that table etiquette categorically prohibits discussing provocative issues that can lead to a serious conflict - therefore, one should refrain from commenting on money, politics and religion.

How to behave at the table and what to say? Be sure to look at the person who is addressing you, listen without interrupting, and only then answer. If you think some questions of the interlocutor are inappropriate for a meal, delicately offer to discuss this a little later. In all other cases, the answer should be easy and unconstrained.

The restaurant does not mean also violent disputes - refrain from inappropriate comments and lighten the mood with a cute joke if someone else raises their voice.

You should not talk only together, involve the rest of the participants in the meal. For example, if the conversation turned to a recent vacation, you can ask one of the interlocutors if he is going to go on vacation in the near future or what places he prefers to relax.

It is also good form in any table conversation to praise the host, chef or initiator of the meeting - find a few kind words to mark the general atmosphere of the evening.

A short course in etiquette

Do what the majority does.
Don't point out to others their mistakes, in the last resort this can be said quietly in an undertone and only to your neighbor on the table.
Don't skip meals for too long.
Leaving the table - apologize.
Try everything and eat what you like.
At the common table they do not discuss diet, eating disorders, restrictions on alcoholic beverages and diet.

Some rules of conduct at the table are best studied by looking at the pictures - look at the basic table setting patterns, you can also watch the video on how to properly hold this or that device.

Table etiquette is not that difficult if you give it a little time, and following all the rules will help you present your best side.

Update date: 02/19/2017

Table manners have always been of great importance. You can not talk about a person if he is ugly, carelessly eats and does not know how to use cutlery. After all, the rules of table etiquette have been tested for centuries so that the behavior of all those present at the table is harmonious and rational.

The most important rule: all cutlery to the right of the plate is held while eating with the right hand, and all cutlery that is to the left, respectively, with the left hand.

A knife (held in the right hand) and a fork (held in the left) have completely different functions: the knife adheres to what you take with the fork. In this case, in no case is it allowed to shift the instruments from the right hand to the left and vice versa. It is recommended to hold the fork with the prongs down. You can't eat with a knife. Also, do not immediately cut everything with a knife, so that after using only one fork. It will be correct to cut off a piece and immediately send it to your mouth, otherwise the food will cool down ahead of time.

The handles of the knife and fork must be held in the hands, and index finger hold the knife blade with your right hand at the beginning. To cut, for example, a piece of meat, the fork and knife must be held at a slight inclination.

Special fish fork and knife are smaller than canteens. In this case, it is not customary to cut the fish with a knife. If the fish dish is boiled or fried, fish bones are separated with a knife. If you find a bone in your mouth, it should be put on a napkin leaning against your lips, then on a plate.

Soup should be eaten, scooping with a spoon away from you, so as not to stain your clothes. Soup should be eaten from the edge of the spoon, bringing it parallel to the lips. They finish the soup, slightly tilting and moving the plate away from you. The broth in the cup should be drunk like tea or coffee after eating a little of the broth with a small dessert spoon. A spoon of soup should not be on the table either during or after the meal - only in a plate.

If the dish does not require cutting (casseroles, pates, soufflés, hard-boiled eggs, puddings), use only a fork, holding it in your right hand. While eating, it is allowed to help with a piece of bread in the left hand.

To make a sandwich, a small amount of caviar, pate and butter is taken on your plate from a common dish. A piece of bread should be taken with the left hand and a sandwich is spread with a knife in the right hand. It is eaten with a fork and knife.

Salads are put on a plate with a salad spoon and eaten with a fork.

To peel an orange, the upper part of the peel is cut off from it, then cuts are made lengthwise into 4-5 parts, the entire peel is removed and the orange is divided into slices. According to the rules of etiquette, bananas are cut with a knife at the handle, the peel is removed and eaten with a dessert knife and fork, cut into pieces.

Strawberries and strawberries are taken by the sepals with their hands, and if the berries are already peeled, they are eaten with a spoon. Cherries, cherries, grapes are taken by hand, the bones are spit out on a teaspoon or napkin.

Cake, cream cakes should not be taken with your hands: they are eaten with a dessert fork or spoon.

If the food on the dish passes from hand to hand in a circle, then first offer it to a neighbor, and only then, without choosing, take it to yourself. Food from the tray must be applied with a fork and a spoon, which is held with the left hand, while helping with the fork. These devices then remain on the tray.

If you don’t know how this dish is eaten at a party, be guided by the hosts of the evening.

As for drinks, it is worth remembering one rule: the smaller the capacity intended for it.

What to do at the table is absolutely impossible:

Address the waiter on "you".
Discuss politics, religion, health and money matters.
Enjoy . In general, their place is not on the table, but in the bathroom. Picking your teeth with them is an intimate process, so in a cafe or restaurant you need to retire to the ladies' room.
Pick up food that has fallen on the floor or cutlery. Ask the waiter for a clean fork or knife, they will bring it to you.
Hold the fork in your right hand. Even if you don't use a knife, use your fork with your left hand. This distinguishes people with excellent manners.
Get distracted by. At the table, he should work in silent mode. Only if you are waiting for an important call, you have the right to ask for forgiveness from the audience in advance, warn and put the phone on the table. In all other cases, the phone does not belong on the table.
Announce your next diet or alcohol restrictions. In this regard, it is better not to draw attention to yourself. Others are not to blame for the fact that you can’t eat or drink something. Or that you recently became a vegetarian.
Do not rush to eat everything as soon as possible, even if you are very hungry. You can not start eating until the food is brought to everyone at the table.
Do not cut or bite off the bread big piece. According to the rules, it is supposed to break off small pieces with your fingers and put in your mouth.
Do not place your handbag on a table or chair. Decent establishments have coasters for this. If not available, hang the bag on the back of a chair. The briefcase can be placed on the floor.

It is up to you to decide whether to comply with these rules of table etiquette in full or not. But be aware that the behavior allowed in may not be understood by people you barely know.

We bring to your attention a video about behavior at the table in a restaurant.

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The main principles of table etiquette are known to everyone, but there are a number of non-obvious rules that should be taken with great attention. For example, the statement that game is eaten with the hands is only partly true - much in this matter depends on the circumstances. Let's figure out when a fork and knife are really not needed, and in what situations etiquette requires us to use cutlery.

website made a selection practical advice with which you will stop being nervous and making mistakes at the table.

1. Miso soup

Miso soup is usually served in a small deep bowl. Putting it on the palm of one hand and holding it against the wall with your thumb, they drink the broth in small sips. Chopsticks in the other hand hold tofu cheese and other ingredients. After the broth is drunk, you can eat tofu, noodles, mushrooms and other solid ingredients of the dish using chopsticks or a spoon.

2. Bacon

Crispy bacon can crumble if cut with a knife, so it is eaten with the hands. Soft bacon tends to be greasy and can easily stain your fingers. Therefore, when eating, use a fork and a knife.

3. Olives and black olives

When served as an appetizer, olives may be handled by hand. If olives are an ingredient in a dish, such as a salad, then they are eaten with a fork. An olive in a martini glass can be eaten after the drink is drunk by tipping it into the mouth.

4. Fish steak

Fish steak is usually made from salmon, salmon or trout. It is eaten with special utensils: a fork with three cloves and a knife in the form of a spatula. The meat of the fish is very soft, so they do not cut it, but carefully separate the pieces with a knife, which are then sent to the mouth with a fork. The knife is also used to push back the skin and bones of the fish.

5. Whole fish

cut the fish in the middle from head to tail so as not to affect the spine. Upper layer“open” like a book, entering the cut with a knife and holding the meat with a fork. Pieces of meat can be shifted to an empty space on a plate. Pry the spine with a fork, remove it from the fish and place it on a plate for the bones. You can sprinkle the fish with lemon and start eating using the same fork and knife.

6. Meat on the bone, game

During a business dinner, at a party or in a restaurant, meat on the bone, chicken, game is eaten with a fork and knife. In an informal setting - at home or at a picnic - poultry meat, ribs can be eaten with your hands.

7. Shrimps

If this is a dish with shrimp whose tails are not cleaned, then you can bring them to your mouth with your hands, holding them by the shell. Then the remains are deposited on a special plate.
Shrimps on skewers, served as an appetizer, are dipped in sauce and then put into the mouth, holding the stick. If the shrimp are too large to fit in the mouth completely, they are eaten by biting off a piece. But in this case, it is not worth dipping a bitten shrimp into a common gravy boat.
Shrimp cocktail is served in a tall glass or a deep cup. Shrimp that are too large are cut into several pieces. If you can't use a knife, pry the shrimp with a fork and bite into pieces. Bitten shrimp can be dipped in a sauce designed exclusively for you.
Peeled boiled and fried shrimp on a plate are eaten with a fork and knife.

8. Pizza

During a cocktail, pizza cut into pieces can be taken with your hands from a common tray or plate. The same rule applies to parties and any events in an informal setting. But if you are at a business lunch or have lunch in a cafe, restaurant, it is better to use a fork and knife.

9. Taco

Crispy cake is taken by hand. If you're making your own toppings, start with lettuce leaves to keep the tortilla from softening too quickly. Then you can add rice, cheese, vegetables. It's best not to put a lot of toppings on and keep the tacos over a clean plate. If any of the ingredients fall out of the tortilla, it will be easy to pick it up with a fork.
A soft cake with filling is wrapped in a roll. Tacos are topped with sauce and eaten with a knife and fork.

9. Baked potatoes

Baked potatoes are eaten with a fork. The potatoes are held with the fingers of one hand while the skin is removed with the other hand with a fork. The root crop is cleaned longitudinally, from top to bottom. (If there is no cross cut on the top of the potato, you can make it yourself with a fork to let the steam out.) The potatoes are then broken open with your hands, and the fork is used to mix the pulp of the root vegetable with the butter and other ingredients.

10. Green peas

Green peas are eaten with a fork and knife. Peas are collected on a fork with a knife, after which they are sent to the mouth. Another way is to prick peas on the tines of a fork. In no case should you knead the peas, turning it into a puree.

Hard cheeses, cut into pieces, can be transferred to your plate using cutlery. In a formal setting, cheese is best eaten with a fork. But if you make a sandwich with a cracker or bread, it is not forbidden to take it with your hands.

13. Desserts

Eclairs are always eaten with a knife and fork. You need to cut the cake very carefully so that the filling does not come out.
Donuts and air pastries are broken with hands, spread with butter, sent into the mouth in small pieces.

Glazed buns are cut in half or quarters and eaten with your hands. If the pastry is too sticky, then use a fork and knife.

Dining etiquette is not only the science of how to properly use cutlery. Also, do not forget about the rules of conduct during the feast. Don't leave your phone on a shared table; before taking a sip, swallow the food and blot your lips with a napkin to keep the rim of the glass clean; As you leave the table, say "I'm sorry." After all, sharing a meal with polite people is much more pleasant. “Good education is not that you don’t spill sauce on the tablecloth, but that you don’t notice if someone else does it,” said Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. And there is nothing to add to his words.

Tell us, have you experienced uncertainty at the table and have you had to get out of a difficult situation?

If at home you can afford to eat as convenient, then in a restaurant or a trendy cafe it is customary to eat food with the help of special “tools”. By what signs can they be recognized?

Fork and knife eateries, which are used to eat cold dishes, salads, as well as ham, sausage and pancakes, are slightly smaller in size than canteens.

With a fish fork (with four small cloves and a cut in the middle) and a knife (with a short wide blade), it is convenient to separate the fish fillet from the bones. But if the fish is served as a whole, so that those present can appreciate the size and admire the design, it is surrounded by additional devices. A wide knife with a rounded blade and a round flat fork, more like a spoon with an oblique cut, will help to arrange food from a common dish on plates.

Tea and coffee, in addition to spoons, will also be served with tongs for sugar, a knife with large teeth and a two-pronged fork for lemon. There are no coffee spoons less than ten! They differ in size and names: "cappuccino", "melange", "glace" ... The smallest is designed for Turkish coffee.

Exotic dictates its own

Oysters can be easily separated from the shell with a small trident. Snails are cut with tiny tweezers and a small fork. By the way, it depends on the type of snail and the structure of its shell, what shape of tweezers will be served to you - with rounded ends, with a ribbed surface or completely flat.

Game tongs resemble curved scissors with slightly curved blades, which are convenient for breaking bones.

A special device is served for fish caviar. It is laid out in crystal caviar bowls, covered with ice and placed next to a spoon, spatula and knife. The spatula has an elongated pointed shape so that the eggs do not deform.

One for all

The rules of etiquette require that eaters transfer salads, appetizers and cheese from common dishes to their plate using the so-called common utensils - tongs, forks, spoons and spatulas. All these "tools" are placed next to the dish for which they are intended, so it is impossible to confuse them. If you have to break your head, then just to understand which knife is addressed to butter and which one to cheese, they are usually located side by side. But a recognizable detail will help to distinguish them: the one for cheese has conspicuous cloves at the end - they pick up the cut slices.

Pastry tongs are large and small. The first to transfer pastries to their plate, the second - sweets and chocolate. If the sugar is lumpy, then tweezers with sharp blades are placed next to it. With the same device, ice cubes are taken out of a special bucket.

To appliances common use include a fish shovel for slicing layouts, and a pastry shop for cakes.

Look for extreme

Two knives, two forks, a spoon - a classic table setting. All other appliances come with the corresponding dishes.

You need to start using the appliances from the edges to the center: further from the plate is a pair for snacks, closer to it is a knife and fork for the main course.

At the end of the meal, the fork and knife are placed parallel to each other with the handles to the right. If you have not finished the meal, but for some reason want to interrupt, the cutlery should be placed on the plate in the same way as you held them: the knife is on the right, the fork is on the left.

poignant story

The fate of the device for pricking food, the fork, developed in Russia dramatically and comically at the same time.

The first fork was brought to us from Poland at the beginning of the 17th century. During a lavish dinner in honor of his marriage False Dmitry I And Marina Mnishek used this new device, which caused a storm of anger from the boyars and the clergy. Some historians even say that the fork provoked Shuisky’s conspiracy: he couldn’t, they say, the Russian tsar eat “not in Russian”. In Rus', even two centuries after these events, holding a fork in your hand, and even more so dropping it, meant bringing trouble on yourself.

How to behave at the table

1. Broths are served in cups with one or two handles. One - a hint that the first can be drunk, two - that it should be eaten with a spoon.

2. The bread is broken over a plate and eaten in small pieces. For buns bring a special saucer. A bun from a common tray is first placed on this saucer, and only then eaten.

3. Meatballs, meatballs, cabbage rolls, scrambled eggs are broken with a fork, a knife is optional.

4. A spoon and a fork are needed at the same time when eating spaghetti. Pasta is wrapped around the fork, which is held in the right hand, and then “cut off” with a spoon.

5. Tobacco chickens (pieces after preliminary cutting of the carcass) can be eaten with your hands. It is assumed that the waiter will bring a bowl of warm water and a cloth to rinse your fingers.

6. Grapes are eaten one at a time, and the seeds are discreetly laid out on a plate. But no matter how hard you try, it looks unaesthetic. Therefore, at magnificent social events, either raisins are served at the table, or grapes are not brought at all.

7. Compotes are not drunk, but eaten with a spoon. First, drinking liquid, and then eating dry fruits is considered not comme il faut. The bones are placed on a saucer, which is served specially.

Anetta Orlova:-Etiquette is some kind of fulcrum that forms a certain style of behavior. When a lot of people gather at the table, everyone brings their own habits - from eating to talking. Here, etiquette is the bridge that can connect different people.

At least once in a lifetime, every person has come across such a thing as table setting. Whether it is preparing a home feast or going to an expensive restaurant, where several plates on the tables are complemented by more than one appliance. In fact, there are not many rules that you need to know for proper serving table.

Before you start lay out cutlery on the table according to the rules of etiquette, it is worth considering the dishes that will be served. Usually glasses, glasses, cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons are placed on the table. You need to start with plates, which you will then lay over with the rest of the devices. Everything you need in the first place should be closest to make it more convenient to take. And even if the owner has planned a ten-course menu, this does not mean that you need to put a whole mountain of plates in front of the guest and build a fence of forks. A classic serving is considered to be an arrangement of no more than three devices.

Schemes on how to lay out cutlery

Video instruction on how to properly lay out devices

Rules for laying out cutlery on the table

It will be important to observe the distance between the devices. It should be about a centimeter from each device and from the edge of the table. It is rather an aesthetic rule to achieve an even distribution of all appliances on the table. Therefore, you do not need to run around the table with a ruler and measure the exact distance.

Forks should lie to the left of the plate. They are placed upside down. Classic serving consists of three forks. The main one lies first from the plate, then comes the fork for fish, and the final fork is for salads. To the right are knives. Their blades are directed towards the plate, and the number of knives is also three. The first knife is the largest for dinner, the second is for fish and the smaller one is for snacks. After the last knife, spoons are placed on the right. If the menu provides for serving first courses, then a large spoon is located between the knife for fish and for snacks. If there is no fish, then between the big knife and the diner.

The arrangement of plates is as follows: first, a plate for the first course is placed, and on top of it - for an appetizer. If butter is served on the table, then on the left there should be a plate with bread and a butter knife. Dessert cutlery is placed at the top of the plate. The knife goes first, the fork comes second, and the spoon goes farthest from the plate. All glasses are arranged in height from left to right. The very first on the left, regardless of height, is a champagne glass.