Does this make sense as a rule of dining etiquette?
I have been trying not to eat so fast, and this has gotten me thinking about eating.
It seems that it should be regarded as impolite to pick up a piece of food and move it in a straight line to the mouth. Shouldn’t we lift the fork or spoon perpendicularly from the plate until the food is at the same height as the mouth, and then move it to the mouth along a line parallel to the table?
Wouldn’t that be less glutinous and more likely to catch any food that falls into the plate rather than on the table or on clothing?
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People who peddle this etiquette nonsense should be flogged in public.
“Oh, you are so uncultured and rude if you eat like a normal person. Here, you must do this complicated and arbitrary dance, lest you be shunned!”
I think that that’s a great idea for you.
I think you mean gluttonous and not sticky and viscous.
Your suggestion would lead to jerky unnatural movements of the spoon so that forces of inertia at the transition point from vertical to horizontal motion would tend to cause food to fall like rain upon your immaculately starched white tablecloths and associated napkins.
I think it depends on what you are eating. Most etiquette is based on what more urbane people would do. Grabbing your food with your hands is not the most polished move you can make. Using cutlery for what it was intended is polite since the person serving put it out for that purpose. Chewing your food slowly and completely makes sense for later on. Eating too fast or chewing too little results in gas accumulation in your stomach that has to come out either as a burp or a fart. Neither is really something everyone wants to see or hear (or smell) at the dinner table.
Another aspect of eating more slowly is that you run less risk of accidentally spilling or splattering some of your food onto your clothes. Taking time to get the food from the table to the mouth allows some of the loose stuff to fall off. Moving your face closer to the plate is acceptable if you are afraid of drippage.
@LostInParadise it’s a great idea but needs experimentation. Please try it for 4 years and let us know how successful it has been.
^I’m gonna need a 10 year study.
I eat very slowly and I don’t lift my fork using a 90 degree angle from plate to mouth.
I think my bites are smaller and I chew more than people like my husband who eats very fast. In social settings I talk more than him too.
The trick to not getting food on clothing is don’t sit up straight if you have large breasts or a large stomach, don’t overload your fork, don’t twirl spaghetti with lots of sauce.
Obviously, sitting up straight is better etiquette, so I’m only half serious about that. My MIL has great posture and she often stains her blouse with food. If anything drops off of her fork it will be hitting her breasts, not the napkin on her lap.
It would be odd to move the fork straight up and then horizontal. It would look jerky and not natural.
If you want to see perfect eating habits, watch the royals. They sit up straight. They don’t hover their faces over the plate. They keep the other hand in their lap, not next to the plate. They don’t push food onto the fork with their hands.
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