My chapter held an etiquette dinner at least once a year as a Membership Growth and Development event. You could hire members of the campus catering staff to host it, and we would be served food from the cafeteria on campus.. But the dinner was held in a much nicer place, and we all wore badge attire.
I learned a lot from those dinners - everything from setting the table, to seasoning/eating your food, to what to do with your napkin when leaving the table. I think EVERYONE could benefit from something like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AOII Angel
Also, one piece of food should be cut from the whole at a time, the knife put down then the piece raised to the mouth with the fork, then the fork placed on the plate while the piece is eaten. I don't always follow those rules, but if I was going to instruct someone, I'd do it right. Same rules for buttering bread. Never butter a whole roll at one time. Bite sized pieces at a time should be buttered. AOII didn't teach etiquette. I took a class in college.  |
As BAcckbOwlsgIrl points out, with the meat cutting, it depends on whether you're eating using the American or Continental style. And even with the American way, I've been taught that if you're being strict about it, cutting one piece at a time is proper. However, it is typical for people to cut a few pieces at a time, which is ok as well. What you don't want to do is cut an entire piece of meat into small pieces all at once.
As for the bread and butter, this is absolutely correct. It now is one of my pet peeves when I'm out at a restaurant and I see someone butter an entire piece of bread and then bite into it. You should use the butter knife to put a small amount of butter on your bread plate (assuming the butter is coming from a shared butter dish), then you should break off a bite-sized piece, use your knife to butter the bread, put the knife down, then eat the bread.
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