Business Dining Etiquette 161-161

A Fruit Course Now Rarely Seen at Station Four

A fruit course can be served at station four - the table. In the United States of America, this is rarely done now. It is quite commonly served abroad. Practice eating fruit with flatware; the need to do this will arise. When it is offered

1.     A plate and attending flatware is passed to each person at the table.

2.     A spoon alone can be used to eat honeydew melon, hollowed chilled cantaloupe, and papaya which can be served with the black seeds in place served unpeeled in halves or quarters, or as melon balls in syrup or wine.

3.     Stewed fruit, pears, or peaches may be eaten using a spoon alone. The dish itself is rotated with the left-hand to position the fruit to allow it to be cut and eaten. The pit or core, if present, is to be dropped from the mouth onto a spoon and placed onto the left side of an underlying plate.

4.     A strawberry is to be eaten with the fingers, normally by holding the stem.

5.     A spoon and fork could be used to eat pears or peaches served in wine or syrup.

The fork is to be used to hold the item in place while the spoon is used to cut it into manageable pieces one or two pieces at a time and to take each to the mouth.

6.     A knife and fork can be used to eat fresh fruit served from a bowl. A bowl is to be passed around the table Family style: counter-clockwise. Fruit is taken onto a plate. The knife can be used to peel or pull off the skin in a spiral or scoring motion before the fruit is halved or quartered.

7.     A peach, apple, or pear may be eaten with a knife and a fork with the intact skin. This act requires practice.

8.     Pineapple is to be served in a half or a quartered slice. It can be pre-cut away from the peel in which it is rested. It may be further sliced cut and eaten using a knife and fork.

9.     An orange can be cut at both ends of the rind, scored in fourths, and then the skin peeled with away, and the segment are eaten with the fingers. The seeds are to be cleaned in the mouth, dropped into a cupped hand, and placed on the left side of the plate.

10.   Informally, an orange may be cut top to bottom in quarter sections and each section peeled back as the fruit is taken to the mouth. This too could take practice or might be a tad messy.

11.   The fingers can be used to eat a grape and a tangerine. They may be used to eat apples or pears sliced in sections.

12.   A banana can be pinched at the top to open it, (who knew?)  It is to be peeled before it is halved. The fingers may be used to break off each piece to be taken to the mouth. If you push a finger down the middle it will split into three equal parts (thanks Liz). – Only do this is the privacy of your kitchen, and prior to making a sundae.

The hand-held banana is to be reserved for a picnic or a zoo. 

The fruit course at dinner is at best a Continental honor, and at worst, it is a United States of America option.    Bon Appetite.

In a commercial dining room only, a fruit item could be served in a side cup. It might be eaten from this dish. It has been seen transferred to the main course plate and eaten from it. In a private home there is no correct use of a side cup.

After-dinner Smoking

In the United States of America, smoking at the table is rarely done now. It is to be done only at the end of the meal and at the request and direction of the host or hostess. If ashtrays are not pre-set on the table, smoking is to be in all likelihood omitted. If approval to smoke is announced

1.     Offer the person next to you a cigarette when you are taking one.

2.     Light each cigarette when you do not have to get up to do so.

3.     Remove smoking material from your mouth when talking to another person and when greeting anyone.

4.     Enjoy your cigarette with as much consideration to the pleasure it gives you as to the pleasure it gives to each person watching you. You can elect to do your smoking outside. You may decide to wait and to smoke later.

5.     You could still have a lighter for moments that are flame-worthy.

After-dinner Drinks 

An after-dinner drink can be offered at the table or somewhere else.  It is called a digestif: a digestion starter. An after-dinner drink can be

1.      Brandy, provided in a snifter filled ¼ full.

2.     It is to be held with the stem of it rested between the middle and ring fingers of the right hand. The bowl is rested on the palm. It may be provided in a cordial glass. It is to be held by the stem.

Other choices for a digestif are Amari, Bitters, Grappa, Herbal liqueur, Limoncello, Madeira, Ouzo, Port, Sherry, Tequila, and Whiskey.

The after-dinner drink is to be savored and enjoyed. The number of after-dinner drinks you should have is one in a one-hour period. I would really like to say have none, but who would listen.         When more than one after-dinner drink is to be consumed there is to be a designated driver or the after-dinner entertainment is to be provided in the same location.

No matter how long the road to station seven it leads to station eight, the line to good-bye and to you saying, “Thank you.”

  

             

Reasons for Taking a Lesson or Course on

Business Dining Etiquette

Because you can. You have paid, or will pay, for the cost of the food; the way you eat reflects on you and
the company you represent.

When asked why attend a Business Etiquette Dinner and  

A Food Inside Tour, the answer then as a friend, is
dining is a dance. Learn the steps and practice. Eating in courses, “Get etiquette" and outclass the competition.

Confidence and enthusiasm will not stop you from eating

badly, etiquette and practice can.                                           

I almost resist adding this, not wishing to offend: remember, Pretty Woman?  Table manners: the rules of etiquette used while eating,” and practice goes with that jewelry. The same goes for that paycheck. They make you better company, and allow you to rise in the air in the arena you have elected to enter.

Spend life book smart, gym fit, and fork literate. Name each course for six forks.  See how you do. Take a lesson on Casual and Fine Dining Etiquette Business Dining Etiquette.

Each of us lives on a given tier. You do not have to wait to the get to the next tier to prepare. Social skills are presents to a community.

Education and sophistication are our intellectual and social presents to a community. Avoid showing up "One hand just as long as the other (without anything to offer).

Education without sophistication leads to isolation. There is a social requirement for academic refinement. Etiquette is a key to access: how you fit.

Education and sophistication are the air in which we rise. Each tier has a required skill set. Fail to prepare and you will rise in a funnel.

A doctorate without etiquette is an awkward fit, is inadequate. Even you would not want to be around you - if you knew. And now you do- No fear. You can take a class or two.

You are one great marketing representative, and poised sure will look good on you. You can go back then and engine search each subject title, lessons continue.

Education is a social passport. A transcript is a ticket to where you get to sit. Etiquette is a key to access: how (you fit, and where you get to sit.

Education without sophistication leads to isolation. There is a social requirement for academic refinement. Etiquette is a key to access.

Education and sophistication are the air in which we rise. Each tier has a required skill set. Fail to prepare and you will rise in a funnel.

A doctorate without etiquette is an awkward fit, is inadequate. Even you would not want to be around you - if you knew. And now you do. No fear. You have finished this book. You get a new degree, a Doctorate of Decorum. You are one great marketing representative, and poised sure does look good on you.

Eating is the most intimate act you do with someone.  If love were not so blind someone would see how you eat and tell you how to look better eating in style.  Information is everywhere.

You can go back and engine search each subject title in Business Etiquette Dinner and Business Dining Etiquette; lessons continue.

Why the test/class? Why, to combat lack of information, orientation, education, sophistication, dummy down marketing, cultural exclusion, and to get etiquette and outclass the competition. 

Where they eat: Camps, Cafeterias, Coffee Shops, and Dining Facilities with Buffet and Cafeteria Style Dining Service, and in Fast Food restaurants. 

How they drink: from a paper fiber and the industry standard liner (low-density polyethylene plastic) glass; (a cup has a handle), with a lid under a roof, held near the top: essentially from a Sippy cup (without a handle,) from a cup without using the handle, from a glass with a straw-indoors, from a bottle, without a straw, and with their elbow out. 

What they currently eat: burritos, sandwiches, tacos, and pre-cut food - from a box, a container, out of a bag, or a wrapper, with their hands. How they eat:  with a lack of consideration or knowledge of how to eat in any specific style, and with great ignorance of how to use a fork and knife, or how to maintain a cover: a place setting for one in symmetry. Enhance eating in style. Dining is a dance; learn the steps and then practice.

What they say, "Everyone eats this way."  Ok then, get etiquette, and outclass the competition. 

  

Some things are not right.

Went to a buffet dinner the other night:

1.     Not a napkin was seen on a lap in sight.

2.     A hand with a gorgeous ring on to which did a napkin cling.

3.     A space for a plate, and not one established place setting for one: a cover.

4.     A lesson in chewing with the mouth closed while decimating a place setting.

5.     Food from a plate -- gone in a flash – makes you want to say, get some more, --“Dare you to taste that.”

6.     A second course retrieved using a first-course plate.

7.     A bone plate was given or made from a napkin.  What was the thinking?

8.     I have witnessed a food benediction.  “Thanks (again,) for the food Amen,” said before leaving the table.

 I left before I could list another. 

Some Harold Almon’s Living Skills and Etiquette Guides for Young Professionals and University Students can be ordered on Amazon.com, or Ebay.com. Full selection guides and product details can be previewed at Guide Lulu.com Harold Almon and ordered there by direct request using Add to Cart. Excerpts can be read at: Be at Ease School of Etiquette blog:

http://baeschoolofetiquette.blogspot.com/

Austin Inside Tours Almon  University Dining Club Lessons and University Etiquette Lessons are available for each title.