2, the use of knives and forks to eat, from the outside to the inside of the knife and fork, the left hand to hold a fork, the right hand to hold a knife; cut things with the left hand to hold down the fork food, the right hand to hold the knife will be sawed into small pieces, and then sent to the mouth with a fork. When using a knife, the blade must not be turned outwards. When you put down your knife and fork during a meal, they should be placed in the shape of a "figure of eight" on the side of the plate. The blade of the knife should be facing away from you to indicate that you want to continue eating. After each dish, place the knife and fork together on the plate. If you are having a conversation, you can hold the knife and fork without putting them down. When you are not using a knife, you may hold the fork in your right hand, but if you need to make a gesture, you should put down the knife and fork, and never wave the knife and fork in the air, nor hold the knife or fork in one hand while wiping your mouth with a napkin in the other, or hold a wine glass in one hand while picking up the food with the fork in the other. Remember, at no time should one end of the knife or fork be placed on the plate and the other on the table.
3. You should not take too much food into your mouth at a time, and do not talk while chewing, let alone initiate conversation.
4. Don't slurp when drinking soup, and shut up and chew when eating. Do not smack your lips to make a sound. If the soup and vegetables are too hot, you can wait until a little cool before eating, do not blow with your mouth. When drinking soup, use a spoon to scoop from the inside out, and when the soup in the soup dish is almost finished, use your left hand to slightly cock the outside of the soup dish, and use the spoon to scoop the net. When you finish eating the soup, leave the spoon in the soup plate (bowl) with the handle pointing towards you.
5. When eating fish, meat and other dishes with thorns or bones, do not spit directly out of the mouth, but use a napkin to cover your mouth and gently spit on the fork into the plate. If a small amount of dishes remaining in the plate, do not use a fork to scrape the bottom of the plate, and do not use your fingers to help eat, should be a small piece of bread or fork to help eat. When eating noodles, use a fork to roll them up first and then bring them to your mouth.
6, the bread should be broken into small pieces into the mouth, do not take the whole piece of bread bite. When spreading butter and jam, break the bread into small pieces before spreading.
7, eat chicken, Europe and the United States to chicken breast meat is expensive. Eat chicken legs should first force the bone off, do not eat with your hands. Eat fish, do not turn the fish, to eat the upper layer of fish bones with a knife and fork after picking off the lower layer, eat meat, to cut a piece to eat a piece, the block can not be cut too big, or once the meat are cut into pieces.
8, do not make up at the table, wipe your nose with a napkin. Hiccups during the meal is the biggest taboo, in case of such a situation, you should immediately apologize to those around you. Do not stand up when taking food, sitting can not get the food should ask someone else to pass.
9, dining should not be swallowed. Do not want to eat the food should also want a little on the plate to show courtesy. The host advised guests to add food, such as appetite, add food is not considered rude, on the contrary, the host may be proud.
10, not in the middle of the meal to leave. If something really need to leave should be whispered to the guests around the hello. Drinking a toast, even if you do not drink, you should touch the mouth of the cup on the lips to show respect. When someone pours a glass of wine for you, if you don't want it, you can simply say, "No, thank you." Or slightly cover the glass with your hand to show your thanks.
11, in the meal is not yet all over, do not smoke, until the coffee that the end of the meal can be. If there is a female guest on the left or right, you should ask politely, "Do you mind?
12, eating should talk with the guests around, but should avoid loud laughter. Don't just talk to a few acquaintances, the guests around if you don't know, you can choose to introduce yourself. Other people's speeches can not talk to interrupt.
13, drink coffee if you want to add milk or sugar, add a small spoon to stir evenly, put the small spoon on the coffee mat plate. Drinking should be the right hand cup handle, left hand end of the pad plate, directly with the mouth to drink, do not use a small spoon to scoop a spoon to drink. When eating fruit, do not hold the fruit to bite the whole, should first use a fruit knife to cut into 4 or 6 petals, and then use a knife to remove the skin, nucleus, with a fork to eat.
14, eating, do not unbutton or public undress. If the host asks the guest to undress, the male guest can take off his coat and put it on the back of the chair, don't put his coat or his belongings on the dining table.
15. Don't wipe your mouth with a napkin
The French will put a napkin in their lap or simply on one side of the cutlery to wipe their hands when needed. However, contrary to Chinese custom, it is generally considered impolite to wipe your mouth with a napkin in France. If you need to wipe your mouth, you should use a napkin or handkerchief that you bring with you.
Theoretically, we should avoid talking before we have finished swallowing, but in fact we often have to. Then it's best to gently cover your mouth with a napkin. The same applies to drinking wine or water, where a sip should be followed by a polite swipe of the napkin. Personally, I think it's best to hold the napkin in your hand right before you drink it, just in case you choke and have an embarrassing situation.
16, don't forget to wipe the plate clean
Because tastes vary from person to person, guests do not have to eat all the food on the plate, and it's perfectly fine to have some left over. But if you finish your plate, don't forget to wipe up any juices left on the plate. What to wipe it with? In fact, before the main meal, the waiter will give each guest a piece of bread, or it can be a sliced baguette, which is used to eat with the food, and after eating the food used to wipe the plate and knife. When using the bread, be careful not to pick up the whole loaf and eat it, but break it into small enough pieces to be needed, wipe the plate and eat it, then break another piece, and so on. The same is true of wiping the dinner knife. By doing so, the workload of the washer is objectively greatly reduced, which, in the author's opinion, inadvertently also reflects the individual's politeness and cultivation. In fact, in the author and the French dinner, to see them use the plate are clean, visible this practice has been y rooted in people's hearts, the formation of a habit, rather than just a kind of politeness. This is rare.
17, dining to avoid making noise
In China and France there is a big difference in food etiquette, is about the sound of dining, the two peoples have different experiences. In China, restaurants are spacious and brightly lit, with diners mingling and drinking. Chewing is understood as a sign that the food is delicious. In France, the restaurant is more delicate and small, soft lighting, guests speak softly in twos and threes, talking about the comfort and warmth of the mood, never like the Chinese people like the fight wine rowing. It is said that Europeans in northern Europe, especially the Finnish people are the most reticent, believe in "food without words" tradition, while the French are more important to the atmosphere of the meal, if no one to speak, the cold field, is not polite. However, it is absolutely forbidden to make a lot of noise during the process to avoid disturbing other guests at the table.
During the meal, with the mouth chewing, the sound is inevitable, but the French are very careful to control this "indecent" sound. For example, to avoid eating while talking (Ne pas parler bouche pleine.), not smacking their lips, not sucking soup. If they are eating noodles, they wrap a fork around the noodle and put it in their mouth at once, or if the noodle is too long, they cut it off with a knife and then wrap it around the fork. This avoids the sound made when inhaling the noodles.
18, the use of knife and fork skills
In China, people eat with chopsticks, to France for a knife and fork, there will be a period of adaptation time. French food in the appetizer of lettuce, the main course of meat should be used knife and fork. There are a few points that need to be clarified for nationals who dine with the French:
1). For those who are right-handed, the fork should be held in the left hand and the knife in the right. Use the fork to hold the food in place and then cut it with the table knife. Be careful to cut once and eat once, not all the way through before eating, as this is done in France only when parents help young children who are not yet adept at using knives and forks.
2). The first time to use the knife and fork people in order to facilitate the force, often at first open arms, but this practice is wrong. First, the image is not elegant, the second is crowded next to the guests of the space, three is not easy to control the strength, in case of failure to splash the food on others will be ugly.
3). After the basic eat, if there is still residue in the dinner plate, you can carefully use a knife to push it to the fork, and then sent to the mouth. Wipe up any remaining juices with bread. Don't look at the meal is almost finished, this step but must not be underestimated, because this is to reflect the individual mind meticulous, civilized and polite details.
19, do not smoke
From the beginning of this year (2007), the French government issued a ban on smoking, from now on, people are prohibited from smoking in public **** place. In restaurants, of course, diners are also prohibited from smoking. Even when they are in a French home and the other person smokes, smokers go outside on the balcony for the sake of their family and children.
20, after the meal
In France, the order of serving food in a restaurant is generally cold dishes - main course - cheese, dessert - coffee/tea. After finishing a dish, a waiter will come to ask if the guest has eaten well, and after getting an affirmative reply, he will take away the used plates. At this point, the guest will place the used knife and fork on a cleaned plate and hand it to the waiter. Of course, if the guest does not want to eat again, it is perfectly acceptable to collect the leftovers, uneatable bones, skins, shells, etc., together with the knife and fork, and hand them to the waiter.
After a full meal, diners usually don't leave right away, but stay for another half hour or even an hour or more to chat and talk about their families. If you're dining with a French family, it's not uncommon for you to help your host clean up after dinner, and you can even offer to help your host wash the dishes. However, when helping the host, you must ask permission from the other party, otherwise we only do it out of goodwill, it will make people misunderstand that the guests are "home away from home", too casual.