There's a lot of knowledge in catering, and it's always a courtesy to move quietly. Since ancient times, whether celebrating or making friends, hosting a banquet is the most commonly used good method. Opening a cup of delicious food often achieves unexpected results. Nowadays, business invitation banquet has become a very potential business tool. Many people believe that the dining table is an excellent meeting place, and a pleasant and relaxed dining state is very conducive to further understanding.
However, if you don't know the etiquette, the harm is enormous. It will not only make people laugh, but also greatly reduce the company's image.
Mr. Qian Gechuan, a famous scholar, once cited two examples.
one is at a grand banquet. An envoy used a napkin to wipe his knife and fork according to the habit of eating in China, but it was extremely impolite, as if to blame the knife and fork for being unclean. As soon as the host saw it, he immediately ordered the waiter to change the tableware of all the guests, which embarrassed the foreign envoy.
The second is the embarrassing situation Li Hongzhang made when he was in Germany. Li Hongzhang went to dinner at Bismarck's invitation. Because he didn't know the etiquette of western food, he took a bowl of water to wash his hands after eating fruit and drank it. At that time, Bismarck did not embarrass Li Hongzhang, and he also gulped down his hand washing water. Seeing this situation, other civil and military officials had to laugh.
These are two extreme examples, but they also illustrate the harm of not knowing manners.
table manners should start from bit by bit, be meticulous, be generous and courteous, and not vulgar.
you should keep a good sitting posture at the dining table. When you sit at the dining table, keep your body straight and put your feet on the floor. Your manners look good. Of course, this does not require that you must sit as straight as a gun rod like a military school student, but it is impossible to hunch over your seat like a doll.
when you stop eating, you can choose how to put your hands. You may like to put your hands on the table and put the bottom of your wrist against the edge of the table; Or you might like to put your hands on your knees under the table. Keeping your hands still, no matter what, may be much better than fiddling with the food on the plate or playing with your hair!
don't press your elbow on the table when eating. In the gap between serving, it is harmless to put one hand or two elbows on the table, because this is a natural posture for people who are talking enthusiastically. However, when eating, it is best to leave your elbows off the table.
the most appropriate way to sit is to sit on the left. When the chair is pulled away, the body will stand up straight at a distance almost touching the table, and the leader will push the chair in, and when the leg bends and touches the chair behind, you can sit down.
When eating, the upper arm and back should lean against the back of the chair, and the abdomen should keep a fist distance from the table. Sitting with your feet crossed is best avoided. Soup should be delivered to the entrance at a 45-degree angle, and soup should not be sucked. First scoop up the soup from back to front with a spoon, and put the bottom of the spoon at the position of the lower lip to send the soup into the mouth. The upper part of the body leans forward slightly. There is not much soup left in the bowl, so you can raise the bowl slightly with your fingers. If the soup is packed in a bowl with a grip ring, you can directly hold the grip ring and drink it.
in restaurants, napkins are usually opened after ordering. Before deciding on the meal, I only ordered an aperitif. Because there is no need to worry about dripping on my clothes, it is against table manners to open my napkin at the beginning.
open the napkin, fold it in half, and put the opening outward on your lap. The purpose of folding in half is to prevent the tablecloth from being pulled by mistake, while the opening outward is convenient to pick up and wipe your mouth. But for people who often get dirty clothes on their chests, they can also open a whole napkin and clip it on their clothes. Mainly take not getting dirty clothes as the first consideration. Napkins can be used not only to wipe your mouth, hands and fingers, but also to wipe your lips when spitting out fish bones or fruit stones, so the use of napkins can be said to be quite extensive.
When wiping your lips, pick up the end of the napkin and gently press it along your lips. The dirty part can be rolled up to the inside so as not to be seen by others. When spitting out fish bones or fruit stones, you can cover your mouth with a napkin, take it out with your fingers or spit it on a fork before putting it on a plate. You can also spit directly in the napkin, and then fold the napkin inward. The waiter will notice and put on a new napkin. Napkins can be soiled. It is against dining etiquette to take out your handkerchief or tissue to use if you don't want to stain your napkins. Remember that napkins can be dirty when eating.
However, it's not right to wipe your sweat or nose, or to print lipstick all over your napkin. People who wear lipstick should lightly press it with tissue before eating, instead of printing lipstick on napkins.
when you leave your seat temporarily, gently fold the napkin and put it on the dining table or chair naturally. Never hang the napkin on the back of the chair or knead it into a ball and put it on the table. After dessert, you can take off your napkin. Fold it gently and put it on the table and you can leave.