If we’re talking table manners and conventions, at this point I’m on board with combining three principles, two from the West and one from the East, for making dining more convenient and more pleasant:
(From Western restaurant norms): Every item on the plate or in the bowl should be intended to be eaten. The kitchen should remove bones and inedible seeds, and all garnishes should be edible.
(From Western fine dining): Food should be properly seasoned when served. There’s no need for salt or pepper to be available at the table.
(From Asian dining culture): Knives at the table are barbaric, and everything on a plate or bowl should already be cut into appropriate sizes for one handed eating.
That would also take care of the American versus English etiquette (and whatever countries fall on either side of that convention) on how to use knives at the table.
If we’re talking table manners and conventions, at this point I’m on board with combining three principles, two from the West and one from the East, for making dining more convenient and more pleasant:
That would also take care of the American versus English etiquette (and whatever countries fall on either side of that convention) on how to use knives at the table.