How a dinner guest conducts themselves when they are eating in a person’s home, or they are out-and-about at a restaurant, says a lot about them. Knowing the polite etiquette and how to conduct yourself in public, especially in a country that you are not familiar with, lets your host know that you are serious about being considerate about the effort they put into preparing your meal and how much you respect their countries unique cultures and customs.
Lots of different dining rules exist in different countries and different continents. Take India, a melting pot of cultures and customs with its own traditional dining habits that are very far removed from dining habits in the USA in comparison. In India, meals are traditionally eaten on the floor with hands and not utensils. Compare this to France and using hands and sitting on the floor would be considered improper. In France, a dinner guest would need to wait to be seated by the host, would sit at a dinner table and would only use utensils and never their hands.
For a quick snapshot of various countries around the world and their dining habits, see this infographic created by Ard na Sidhe below for more details.
1 Comment
This comes in really handy! I recall my dining experience at a seminar in France… Apparently, I did not realize that when bread is served on a table sitting multiple guests, you are expected to pick the one placed to your left. Imagine my colleagues shock when she turned to pick her bread and I had already helped myself to the one on my right! loool! Anyway, it was a good learning experience as I would not have known what the proper etiquette was had she not mentioned! *Big grin* Thanks for the tip!