^ 
I like the way you think.
I like the way you think.
Eating manners
- Thread starter TerokNor
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I'm not particularly fastidious when it comes to other areas of neatness but I am kind of a freak for polite table manners. Otherwise crumbs get all over the place, your fingers get greasy and you've got crap* around your mouth.
*Note: Only applies to eating actual crap.
*Note: Only applies to eating actual crap.
I like to think of myself as being a good-mannered gentleman. I chew with my mouth closed, place a napkin in my lap, don't stick straws up my nose... the usual. But I eat really fast and make some really nasty noises in doing so
That's why you should have soup in a mug.
That doesn't always work! most soups I eat have all sorts of good chunks in them.
Your mug just isn't big enough.
^
Do we agree that soup is to be served steaming hot (except Gazpacho)?
So, when you drink it from a (big enough for ya?) mug/cup AND want some of the chunks in a sip you'll have to take a pretty large sip to do so; resulting in a great amount of steaming hot soup coming into your mouth and burning away whatever sense of taste you had before doing so (plus: it hurts!).
I definitely prefer a spoon for those kinds of soup!
Well, soup's not supposed to be served 100° celsius. It should be hot, but not so hot it burns your mouth; besides, by the time there's only a little left it should've cooled down a bit anyway.
Personally, I prefer my soup warm, not scorching hot.
But in any case, you can use a spoon into a big mug (like the one in your picture) and then drink the last drops directly from it (that's basically what I do).
But in any case, you can use a spoon into a big mug (like the one in your picture) and then drink the last drops directly from it (that's basically what I do).
Right, 'tis what I usually do too, but in the picture I'm having coffee.
It'll get that way soon enough. It's just that I prefer having it served while it's still hot -not lukewarm.
Drinking soups from mugs is allright, but it is more efficient if you drink it from a deep plait, cause for the plait the tongues long enough. Its hard to catch every single drob inside a mug... unless you are a dog...dog tongues work just fine.
As for eating spaghetti... of couse there is more than one way!!! I can name you at least 5, tough some messier than others.
And eating spaghetti like I describes may not be something for eating them in company, but... you can savour them longer, its a sensoric event...first you need to catch them with your mouth and then slowly bite piece for piece, till you have only the ends on the fork and then you eat those. Its like walking threw snow...either taking the way that got cleaned of snow or walking slowly threw the parts of the pavement, that still have deep snow on it. Much more pleassure like. But then again...I am a child at heart and always loved touching food with hands or eating it in "creative ways", sometimes so sometimes so... however I do know how to behave in company.
Also using bread to wipe the plate clean I do to, when I´ve got some bread...however that not truly is "good manners", we´d call it "farmer manners"... so not high society. My friends a least always give me rolling eyes when I wipe the plate clean with bread. They don´t do that.
TerokNor
As for eating spaghetti... of couse there is more than one way!!! I can name you at least 5, tough some messier than others.
And eating spaghetti like I describes may not be something for eating them in company, but... you can savour them longer, its a sensoric event...first you need to catch them with your mouth and then slowly bite piece for piece, till you have only the ends on the fork and then you eat those. Its like walking threw snow...either taking the way that got cleaned of snow or walking slowly threw the parts of the pavement, that still have deep snow on it. Much more pleassure like. But then again...I am a child at heart and always loved touching food with hands or eating it in "creative ways", sometimes so sometimes so... however I do know how to behave in company.
Also using bread to wipe the plate clean I do to, when I´ve got some bread...however that not truly is "good manners", we´d call it "farmer manners"... so not high society. My friends a least always give me rolling eyes when I wipe the plate clean with bread. They don´t do that.
TerokNor
I think that's a cultural thing. In mediterranean countries there's always fresh bread at the table (in restaurants at least), and people do use it to dunk into salad or scoop up sauce etc.
It's a southern (US)thing, too. Pretty much everybody in Texas does it. I do it now too. Nothing like sopping up the juice from a really good steak with some bread.
As I said, no licking of plates. That's a no-no.Drinking soups from mugs is allright, but it is more efficient if you drink it from a deep plait, cause for the plait the tongues long enough. Its hard to catch every single drob inside a mug... unless you are a dog...dog tongues work just fine.
Of course they are messier, that's because they are wrong.
You are probably right. A table without bread is essentially unthinkable for me. At restaurants around here, a breadbasket is an essential part of setting the table, like plates, cutlery, etc.
There's only one way to eat spaghetti: twirled, on a fork, no spoon. Anything else is Doing It Wrong.
As for the bread thing, it's pretty common here, especially if you're having pasta or the like. Most Italian restaurants will serve bread with the expectation that you'll use it to pick up your extra sauce.
My eating manners are pretty average - although that may not be the best word to use as one person's average is another person's pig, depending on culture/location . I am neither too anal, nor too pig-like. I am able to get along well enough not to embarrass myself in a top-class restaurant - stuff like remembering to keep my elbows off the table, keeping my forearms atop the table and never below, holding the knife and fork with my fingertips and closer to the top rather than the bottom, sipping carefully at the top of the glass so I don't leave huge food stains all around the rim of the glass... Oh, and I do not take a spoon to my spaghetti, and I even know how to properly eat an artichoke!
Even so, I can relax enough to eat pizza or fries with my hands when alone or with friends and family (seem to taste better that way). I do clean my plate and bowl inappropriately if it has been a particularly delicious meal. And I do often gobble food down in front of the the TV with unbecoming hast, and may have to shake off the crumbs on my top afterwards in the sink.
I don't think eating would be as much fun without these sort of contrasts.
. I am neither too anal, nor too pig-like. I am able to get along well enough not to embarrass myself in a top-class restaurant - stuff like remembering to keep my elbows off the table, keeping my forearms atop the table and never below, holding the knife and fork with my fingertips and closer to the top rather than the bottom, sipping carefully at the top of the glass so I don't leave huge food stains all around the rim of the glass... Oh, and I do not take a spoon to my spaghetti, and I even know how to properly eat an artichoke!Even so, I can relax enough to eat pizza or fries with my hands when alone or with friends and family (seem to taste better that way). I do clean my plate and bowl inappropriately if it has been a particularly delicious meal. And I do often gobble food down in front of the the TV with unbecoming hast, and may have to shake off the crumbs on my top afterwards in the sink.
I don't think eating would be as much fun without these sort of contrasts.
A
Amaris
Guest
^ Yep. Average here, too. In formal company it's very reserved, but by myself, it's just average. I also prefer to drink soup out of a mug, and chicken broth (no chicken chunks) Cup-a-Soup is my favorite. I just like all the tiny noodles.
Hu...heu...I don't feel very mediterranean.
French bread is definitively the best. Baguette is my favourite type of bread by a thousand nautical miles.
This most approximates my eating manners, as well.My eating manners are pretty average - although that may not be the best word to use as one person's average is another person's pig, depending on culture/location
Even so, I can relax enough to eat pizza or fries with my hands when alone or with friends and family (seem to taste better that way). I do clean my plate and bowl inappropriately if it has been a particularly delicious meal.
In college, we had annual, staged formal dinners which taught students how to eat in formal situations. The dinner was prepared by kitchen staff and served by professors and administrators. Then it was part of a well-rounded education. IMHO, these days such life skill training is lacking.
Baguettes are good, but I think I like a nice, fresh loaf of sourdough or rye best, myself.
You have good taste, Canadave. Personally, I do not care for hard-crusted bread, such as baguettes... even though they are the latest fad around here.
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