TABLE MANNERS OF OTHER COUNTRIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 14 November 1928, Page 8

TABLE MANNERS OF OTHER COUNTRIES

It is impossible. to judge foreigners’ table manners by'English standards, for the reason that every nation iias its own ideas in these little matters. Many Americans chop their food with their knife before eating it with their fork. They also use teaspoons for dessert, employing dessertspoons only for soup. The Russians have on the table on each side of the plate a silver or glass bridge, on which they rest their knives and forks when not in use, with the handles resting on the cloth and tho points sticking in. the air. Sometimes the implements fall off and ' deposit gravy on the cloth; but no one seems to mind this much. The Russians have many other ideas which strike the stranger as odd. When pouring out wine they make a point of letting it slop over on to the tablecloth. This is regarded as the hall-mark of hospitality. For the same reason they persuade their guests to drink four or five vodkas before dinner. When a visitor calls upon a Chinaman his host begins by having glasses of tea served. The guest is not required to drink all the tea. It should be raised to the lips but not consumed. It takes time to learn these tilings and to acquire the right expression on being offered dried rat-, bird’s-nest soup, and newly-born white mice, and it is diffi J cult for a European to appreciate those meals at which there is a prolonged ceremonial.