China is a country of etiquette, and food culture is a very important part of it. The Spring Festival is coming, and there will be many family gatherings, friend gatherings, etc., so we have prepared a Spring Festival table for you Etiquette, I hope you like it, more information is in the etiquette column!
Spring Festival food customs
The Spring Festival generally refers to the half-month period from the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. From ancient times to the present, the Spring Festival has been the largest and most solemn festival in our country. During this period, people wish each other New Year's greetings and increase friendly feelings. Some want to visit relatives and friends, give gifts and New Year's goods, and some want to treat each other to dinner, which is called "New Year's Eve".
The Spring Festival generally refers to the half-month period from the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. From ancient times to the present, the Spring Festival has been the largest and most solemn festival in our country. During this period, people wish each other New Year's greetings and increase friendly feelings. Some want to visit relatives and friends, give gifts and New Year's goods, and some want to treat each other to dinner, which is called "New Year's Eve".
The Spring Festival is also preceded by New Year's Eve, which was called "Sui Chu" or "Zhu Chu" in ancient times. The food customs on New Year's Eve are different between the north and the south. Northerners regard dumplings as a delicacy, including boiled dumplings, steamed dumplings, etc., which are eaten when attending dinner, taking the meaning of "Gengsui Jiaozi". In order to seek good luck, some dumplings put some sugar cubes in them, which means a sweet life in the coming year; some put a "Zhiqian" in the dumplings, and eating dumplings with Zhiqian will bring good fortune.
In the south, people eat rice cakes, yuanxiao, sponge cakes, rice dumplings, fish, meat and vegetables as delicacies. Eat more rice cakes and Yuanxiao on New Year's Eve. Yuanxiao is also called "Duanzi" or "Yuanzi", which means glutinous rice balls, which means "family reunion". Rice cakes are mostly made of glutinous rice, which means "production and life are prosperous every year".
Before eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, in the old days, it was common to worship ancestors first, by dividing a small amount of food and offering it to the ancestors as a mark of remembrance. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, the farewell ceremony begins. The whole family salutes and pays homage to the souls of their ancestors, and the children salute and bid farewell to their elders in order of eldest and youngest. The younger generation can receive "lucky money" from their elders, which is called "pledge money", which means suppressing "evil worship".
On the first day of the first lunar month, people get up early and bless each other. For breakfast, northerners eat dumplings, and southerners eat glutinous rice balls. Almost all parts of the country eat rice cakes. The word "sticky" is a homophone to the word "nian", and the word "nian" originally means mature grains. Eating sticky cakes means a year's harvest. It’s getting better than every year, and it’s getting better and better every year. Now it is commonly known as rice cake. After breakfast, people put on new clothes and go to the homes of relatives, friends and neighbors to pay New Year greetings and wish them all the best in the new year. Every family will entertain guests with snacks such as melon seeds, peanuts, and candies. On this day, people eat mostly food prepared before the festival, which means "more than enough". In the north, most people eat steamed buns, while in the south, rice is the main food.
Etiquette at the Spring Festival table
1. After sitting down, your posture should be correct, with your feet under your seat and not straightened at will. Your elbows should not lean on the edge of the table or put your hands on the table. On the back of the neighbor's seat.
2. When dining, you must be gentle and elegant, calm and quiet, and not impatient.
3. At the dinner table, you should not only care about yourself, but also care about others, especially the female guests on both sides.
4. Avoid talking when there is food in your mouth.
5. Personal tableware is not allowed to reach into the public dining plate to pick up dishes.
6. You must eat in small mouths and do not stuff it into your mouth. Food cannot be stuffed into your mouth before it is swallowed.
7. When taking vegetables and ladling soup, you should use public chopsticks and public spoons.
8. When eating imported food, do not spit it out. If it is hot food, you can drink water or juice to take a shower.
9. When bringing food to the entrance, the elbows should be leaned inward and not spread straight to the sides to touch the neighbor.
10. You should avoid talking or toasting to others while you are holding a knife and fork in your hand, or when others are chewing food.
11. Do not use your fingers to pick out your teeth. Use toothpicks and cover them with your hands or handkerchiefs.
12. Avoid coughing, sneezing, and vomiting at the dining table.
If you can't help it, you should say "I'm sorry".
13. When dining in a restaurant, you cannot rush to pay the bill. Pushing and pulling to pay is very indecent. It is also inappropriate to pay bills on behalf of friends without their consent.
Etiquette for sitting and leaving
1. You should wait until the elder is seated before sitting down.
2. If there is a lady at the table, you should wait until the lady is seated before taking a seat. If a lady's seat is next to hers, she should be greeted.
3. After the meal, other guests must wait until the host and hostess leave the table before other guests can leave.
4. Sit in an upright posture and keep an appropriate distance from the dining table.
5. When dining in a restaurant, the waiter should lead you to your seat.
6. When leaving a seat, you should help the elderly person or woman sitting next to you pull the seat.
Etiquette for using tableware
1. Etiquette for using chopsticks
Chopsticks are the most important tableware for Chinese food. When using chopsticks, you must usually use them in pairs. When using chopsticks to take dishes or eat, you should pay attention to the following small questions:
First, no matter whether there is food left on the chopsticks, do not lick it. Isn’t it a bit unappetizing to use licked chopsticks to pick up food?
Secondly, when talking to others, you should put down your chopsticks temporarily and do not wave your chopsticks like a baton while talking.
Third, don’t put chopsticks vertically on the food. Because this kind of insertion is only used when paying homage to the deceased.
The fourth is to strictly control the functions of chopsticks. Chopsticks are only used to pick up food. It is considered disrespectful to use it to pick teeth, scratch an itch, or pick up anything other than food.
2. The etiquette of using a spoon
Its main function is to scoop out dishes and food. Sometimes, when using chopsticks to eat, you can also use a spoon to assist. Try not to use a spoon alone to pick up the food. When using a spoon to take food, do not overfill it to avoid overflowing and staining the table or your own clothes. After scooping up the food, you can pause at the same place for a while. When the soup stops flowing down, move it back to enjoy.
When the spoon is not in use temporarily, it should be placed on its own plate. Do not place it directly on the table or let it stand at attention in the food. After taking food with a spoon, eat it immediately or put it on your own plate and do not pour it back. If the food is too hot, do not scoop it with a spoon or blow on it with your mouth. You can put it in your own bowl and wait for it to cool before eating. Do not put the spoon in your mouth, or suck or lick it repeatedly.
3. Plate usage etiquette
A slightly smaller plate is a saucer, which is mainly used to hold food. Its use is similar to that of a bowl. Plates should generally remain in place on the dining table and should not be stacked on top of each other.
What needs to be emphasized is a kind of plate called a food plate with a special purpose. The main function of the food plate is to temporarily place the dishes taken from the public dish. When using the food plate, do not put too many dishes at one time, as this will look messy and like the reincarnation of a hungry ghost. Don't pile a variety of dishes together, otherwise they will "channel" each other's flavors, which will not look good or taste good. Do not spit uneaten scraps, bones, and thorns on the ground or table. Instead, gently pick them up and place them on the front of the plate. Do not spit them directly from your mouth onto the plate. Use chopsticks to hold them next to the plate. If the food plate is full, ask the waiter to change it.
4. Use of water cups
Water cups are mainly used to hold water, soda, juice, cola and other soft drinks. Don't use it to hold wine, and don't tip the water glass upside down. In addition, what you drink into your mouth cannot be spit back into the water glass.
5. Use of napkins
Before a Chinese meal, if you are more particular, you will be given a wet towel for each diner. It can only be used to wipe hands. After wiping your hands, it should be placed back on the plate and taken away by the waiter. Sometimes, another wet towel is served before the formal banquet ends.
Different from the former, it can only be used to wipe the mouth, but cannot wipe the face or wipe sweat.
6. The use of toothpicks.
Try not to pick your teeth in public. When you have to pick, cover your mouth with your other hand. Do not watch the picked out things in public or re-eat them, and do not play them casually or spit them out. After flossing, do not hold the toothpick in your mouth for a long time, let alone use it to pick up food.
Female table manners
1. It is not advisable to apply too strong perfume, so as not to overwhelm the taste of the dishes.
2. Ladies should avoid wearing hats and high boots when attending a grand dinner.
3. When knives, forks and napkins fall on the floor, don’t just lean under the table to pick them up. Ask the waiter to replenish them.
4. When food crumbs are stuck between the teeth, don’t just use toothpicks to get them out. You should drink some water to see if the situation can improve. If that doesn't work, you should go to the bathroom to deal with it.
5. When there are foreign objects in the dishes, do not tell the people next to you in a disgraceful manner, so as not to affect the appetite of others. Remain calm, use a napkin to pick it out and discard it.
6. Don’t wave your knife and fork unconsciously when you are making witty remarks.
7. You should not vomit during meals. If you encounter food that is too spicy or too hot, you can quickly drink ice water to adjust. If you really can't eat, go to the bathroom to deal with it.
8. Women should wipe off their lipstick before eating to avoid leaving lip marks on cups or tableware, giving people a sense of uncleanness.
Don’t just focus on the chicken, duck and fish on the table, don’t just focus on the delicious pastries and snacks. Happy Spring Festival, please be a polite person and leave a civilized image.
Children’s table manners education
1. Eat together. The more opportunities children have to dine with their parents, the more they will learn proper etiquette.
2. Don’t ask for speed. There are one or two liturgies planned for the church during the same period.
3. The goal is reasonable. Every child is an independent individual. Parents should try their best to understand their children's abilities. What works for one child may not work at all for other children. Pay attention to age differences.
4. Be flexible. If your child is acting really bad one day, take it easy and postpone it until the next day.
5. Lively and interesting. Children have rich imaginations and like to play characters in life. Sometimes you can arrange exquisite meals, invite them to dress up for the banquet, and teach them to behave in a manner commensurate with the characters they play.
6. Practice regularly. Parents take their children to restaurants to familiarize their children with the etiquette they usually learn in public places.
7. Positive teaching. Children are easily offended by things they are forbidden to do. Instead of criticizing them after they do something wrong, tell them what they should do beforehand.
8. Make good use of opportunities. During holidays or festive occasions, take the opportunity to teach your children the principles of dressing, eating and coping.
9.Explain the reason. Try to explain to your children at all times the reasons for observing etiquette. Doing so will help develop their self-awareness.
10. Set an example. Teach children to learn from children who do well, and you can also use video tapes, books, pictures, etc. for education.
How to adjust the atmosphere at the Spring Festival table
1. Everyone is having fun together and avoid whispering
Most banquets have more guests, so you should talk as much as possible Topics that most people can participate in are recognized by most people. Because individuals have different interests, hobbies, and knowledge, try not to be too biased in the topic to avoid being self-centered, talking about everything, going off-topic, and ignoring everyone else. In particular, try not to whisper to others in a low voice, giving others a sense of mystery. This will often lead to jealousy and affect the effect of drinking.
2. Aim at the guest and host and grasp the overall situation
3. Appropriate language and humor
Sprinkling on the table can show a person's talent, knowledge, cultivation and Communicative demeanor and sometimes a witty and humorous language will leave a deep impression on the guests and make them like you invisibly. Therefore, you should know when to say what to say, appropriate language, and humor are key.
4. Persuading people to drink in moderation, don’t force it
People often encounter the phenomenon of persuading people to drink at the wine table. Some people always like to treat the wine shop as a battlefield and try their best to persuade others to drink more. Cup, I think it is unreal if I don’t drink enough. ?A hero is judged by drinking? It's okay for people who drink a lot, but it's difficult for people who drink a lot. Sometimes excessive persuasion to drink will completely destroy the original relationship between friends.
5. Toast in an orderly manner with clear priorities
Toasting is also a science. Generally speaking, toasts should be ordered by age, position, and identity of the guest and host. Before toasting, you must Fully consider the order of toasts and distinguish priorities. When drinking with unfamiliar people, you should first inquire about their identity or pay attention to how they are addressed. This should be known to avoid embarrassing or hurtful feelings.
When toasting, you must grasp the order of toasting. When you have a request for a guest at the table, you should naturally be more respectful to him. However, be aware that if there is a higher-status or older person present, you should not only be respectful to the person who can help you, but also be respectful first. Give a toast to the venerable elders, otherwise everyone will be embarrassed.
6. Observe words and colors and understand people’s hearts
If you want to get everyone’s appreciation at the wine table, you must learn to watch words and colors. Because to communicate with people, you need to understand people's hearts and be able to play both sides well in order to play the role at the wine table.
7. Be sharp and steady
At a banquet, you should see the occasion clearly, correctly evaluate your own strength, don’t be too impulsive, and try to retain some drinking power and sense of speaking. Don't let others underestimate you and don't expose yourself too much. Choose appropriate opportunities and gradually radiate your edge. Only then can you sit firmly on the mountain and avoid giving others the idea of ??"this is your ability", so that no one dares to underestimate your strength. .