Table Manners and CustomsIn Great Britain today good manners at table include eating with

Table Manners and Customs

In Great Britain today good manners at table include eating with the mouth closed; not letting any of the food fall off the plate; using the knife only for cutting; and not trying to take food across the table.______【46】. Indeed, what are considered good table manners in some other countries are what British people try hardest to avoid. ______【47】.

______【48】. Tables and chairs have raplaced the cushions of the past, and the lady of the house presides at one end of the table in the same way that Western women do. Many Japanese, however still feel it would be wrong to eat unless they were sitting on a cushion before a low table with a tray of food on it. In many parts of the world both traditional and Western styles of eating exist side by side.

______【49】. In North America it is polite to cut up meat and then put the knife down, take the fork in the right hand and eat with it. Most European people, like the British, keep the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right all the time when they are eating food that has to be cut. In the British Isles and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland) special knives and forks are used for eating fish. ______【50】.

A. In France, Belgium and Italy, however, it is correct to keep the same knife for every course , wiping it on a piece of bread.

B. In other parts of the world there are also rules for people to follow when they are eating, but they are not the same as those of Britain.

C. The richer and more educated people in the East have, however, to a great extent taken up

the table manners and customs of Western people.

D. In Arabia, for instance, the people at a feast take pieces of food with their fingers and belch loudly to show that they have appreciated it.

E. Table manners and customs have changed a lot with the time.

F. In the West there are differences between table manners in various countries, although they are not so marked.

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