Community Chat

[sunshine45]

i say we all go to a good bbq restaurant and see how much "sopping" and "licking" goes on!

[EatWell]

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@shortbreadlover wrote:

when did we lose our table manners?  i eat out sometimes and i am shocked by what i see as a lack of good table manners.  some people will drink, their soup rather use a soup spoon.  they don't even know how to correctly use a spoup spoon.

then there is the sopping up of sauce with bread.

i know we all use these thingswhen weare at home but in public?

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@shortbreadlover 

Do you realize in many cultures the behavior you critize is proper and appropriate? It makes no difference whether eating at home or out.

As an example:  in Japan, it is appropriate to slurp your ramen from the soup bowl.  Without using a soup spoon.  It is to show appreciation.  You would be considered rude not to.

Have you eaten Ethiopian food? It is eaten with your fingers.

There are many examples world wide of what you consider 

to be “bad manners”.

[QueenDanceALot]

I don't slurp, I don't hunch over the table, I don't talk with my mouth full, I don't chew with my mouth open, I don't belch at the table.  I put a napkin in my lap, I use the right utensils, I say please and thank you to wait staff, and I say please and thank you to fellow diners when I need something passed to me..  

But I use bread to sop up sauce and occasionally my elbow will make it's way to the table.

If that makes me a cretin to some of the Miss Manners on this thread, so be it.

[suzyQ3]

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@EatWell wrote:

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@shortbreadlover wrote:

when did we lose our table manners?  i eat out sometimes and i am shocked by what i see as a lack of good table manners.  some people will drink, their soup rather use a soup spoon.  they don't even know how to correctly use a spoup spoon.

then there is the sopping up of sauce with bread.

i know we all use these thingswhen weare at home but in public?

---

@shortbreadlover 

Do you realize in many cultures the behavior you critize is proper and appropriate? It makes no difference whether eating at home or out.

As an example:  in Japan, it is appropriate to slurp your ramen from the soup bowl.  Without using a soup spoon.  It is to show appreciation.  You would be considered rude not to.

Have you eaten Ethiopian food? It is eaten with your fingers.

There are many examples world wide of what you consider 

to be “bad manners”.

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@EatWell, I'm just guessing here, but I doubt that @shortbreadlover's post was meant to be multinational.

[suzyQ3]

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@QueenDanceALot wrote:

I don't slurp, I don't hunch over the table, I don't talk with my mouth full, I don't chew with my mouth open, I don't belch at the table.  I put a napkin in my lap, I use the right utensils, I say please and thank you to wait staff, and I say please and thank you to fellow diners when I need something passed to me..  

But I use bread to sop up sauce and occasionally my elbow will make it's way to the table.

If that makes me a cretin to some of the Miss Manners on this thread, so be it.

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@QueenDanceALot, well, this Miss Manners did give up on her husband's habit of putting his elbows on the table, so maybe there is hope for me after all. :-)

BTW, I've been known to scoop up salad with a piece of bread, but it is best left for home use simply because it is not a pretty sight.

[black widow]

Having manners also implies that one doesnt insult or judge others....You are missing your experience of dinning if you are watching others.Times have changed,so should one.If you are wearing white gloves and looking down your nose at others YOU are ill mannered.Remove the  plank from your eye to see someones splinter..

[bikerbabe]

I am not eating my pita bread and hummus with a knife and fork.

[Reilley]

You don't need to apoligize, you weren't being mean.

Most of us know what you meant, and then there are those who jump on the band wagon to criticize.

I've also noticed bad manners when dining out, but, it isn't new, I first noticed 20 years ago, perhaps longer.

You can't help noticing when others eat with their mouths open and slurp and burp to their hearts content in any restaurant, poor  eating manners aren't relegated to just the cheaper restaurants. Poor eating manners, also shouldn't be acceptable at home.

There's a couple threads on the bad eating habits of the hosts and vendors on the gourmet and cooking shows, plenty of the posters have contributed to both of them.

[jeanlake]

Something that came to mind when I read this post -- sometimes we do become more careless about table manners while dining out. I don't know when it happened, but I can no longer sit across the table from my bro-in-law. He's always been a talker but now he talks with his mouth full. Things fly out of his mouth and sometimes you can't understand what he says. I no longer ask him to repeat himself. He didn't used to be like that but perhaps he's relaxed his standards. Nice guy, though.

I remember the family taking dad out to dinner on his 75th birthday. He used to be so polished, but it was disturbing to see how his manners had relaxed. He was a widow for a long while - lived alone - retired. Ate meals in front of the TV. No doubt he didn't put a priority on manners anymore.

Had breakfast with my husband last weekend. I watched him fill his fork up to the brim then open wide and cram the fork in his mouth. This guy wears suits to work and I said -- do you eat like that at work? He said -- it's a breakfast diner. I didn't agree with him. 

Sounds like I'm picking on aging men but this is the group I notice.         

[proudlyfromNJ]

I never pay attention to anyone else in a restaurant except the people I am with. I haven’t witnessed any bad manners with my family or friends. I can’t imagine having a meal and staring at other diners instead of paying attention to my company. I have no interest in any strangers in a restaurant. So maybe they have no manners, who knows or cares.