How do you feel when you dine with some sophisticated people, and you suddenly burp? What happens when you are at a classy party where people come from well-off families, and you drop your spoon making sounds? How does it feel being the embarrassment piece on the dining table? If you are educated and you still commit such silly mistakes while dining, then you should be shameful. Well, nowadays it is common to find people who have such issues of struggling with their spoons when they sit to dine. Imagine you go to your neighbors’ dinner party and you create such nuisance and in doing so, you break their expensive silverware. Do you think they will dare to invite you to their house the next time? Definitely, No. So, to avoid such situations you can’t go into hiding. You have to withstand this flaw in you and rectify the mistakes that you have done. For that, you will have to undergo the practice of eating mannerisms. Here are 10 basic dining etiquettes that you should follow while having meal with others:

1. How to order your menu

 When you visit a restaurant for dinner, then you must show some curtsy to the waiter and order the menu politely. You should control your hunger when you see the menu card filled with names of diverse sumptuous delicacies. You need to make sure that you don’t drool reading the names of the dishes. There is a very important tip that when you don’t understand the name of a dish, then you must not hesitate in asking the waiter about it instead of making a fool out of you by pronouncing it wrong.

2. Always go for a sequential menu

There is always a set of menu course designed for supper, and you must follow that. I mean you should begin with starters followed by the main course meal and then the desert. Don’t show your real colors to others and order dessert first just because you have a craving for it. Always be particular about how much you want to eat. Order a sufficient number of dishes for all. It is fine when you order less food because you can order more later. But when you place an order for tableful menu, and then you waste it, it does not look good. Shoe some respect to food and do not let it be dumped.

3. Be a good host

When you organize a party, then you should know that feast is the most important ingredient of any party. People judge a party by the availability and quality of food. When the guests have settled for the dinner, then it is your duty being the host to make them comfortable. You must inform the visitors about the buffets and other arrangements. You should ask in gentle tone if the guests want some more food, you should bring extra plates if they need some. So, you have to display your royalty through your hosting.

4. Do not overcrowd the table

Every table has a restricted occupancy, and you must not break it. People need sufficient space to extend their arms and eat without any distractions. When you overcrowd the table, it becomes difficult for the diners to sit comfortably. At times, people are shy to eat in public, so they don’t like such suffocating environment when they dine. So, do not do this mistake of adjusting 6 people on a table which has a capacity for 4.

5. Know the use of forks and spoons

There are embarrassing situations when the children play with cutlery and accidently drop them off the table. Moreover, people more often don’t know the correct usage of spoons and tend to make blunders while using them. When you are not accustomed to eating noodles with chopsticks, then you must avoid using them. Instead, you can use forks. You should hold the knives and spoons at 80-degree angle to maintain a distance between the hands and the table. Use the knife in such manner that it does not like you are using it to kill someone but to cut-off the meal.

6. Always keep a napkin on your lap

It is the fundamental etiquette that every individual should know. People have a tendency to spill off liquid items or drop some solid meal on their clothes when they take a bite of the meal. To avoid such problems, you must have handkerchief or tissue paper in your hands to clean your face, and you must keep a cloth on your lap. Especially while having non-vegetarian items you need to be more cautious while chopping off the meat pieces with your knife. God forbid it does not happen that a drumstick falls into someone else’s plate because of your mistake.

7. Table manners

There is a specific pattern as to what the table should look like. You must keep the plates upside down in front of the person before dining, and the spoons should be kept on the either side of the plate. There is a symmetry that makes your table beautified. The napkins should be placed on a side on the table. There is a position that belongs to every cutlery set.

8. Pass on the food in proper order

Having food together means sharing. You might pass on the food to your co-mates from above their heads or from anywhere, but that works only with the housemates, not with the outsiders. You must pass on the dishes by asking each other humbly and not throwing food on one another. It is like playing passing the parcel, but in a sophisticated way.

9. Do not talk while eating

It is a vital tip for all because when you chat while eating you can accidently gulp the food without chewing it. This will lead to problems in digestion. So, you let your mouth do more of gnashing and less of talking. You will have ample of time to converse with others after the supper. You can wait till then. Right?

10. Use finger bowls after having your meal

It is not just about your reputation that you should be well-mannered while sitting on the table, but it is about your hygiene as well. After having your meal, you can’t have access to soaps or sanitizers to wash your hands, so you should dip your fingertips into the fingerbowls to rinse off the dirt from your hands. The effect of boiling water and lime will cleanse your knuckles.

Eat properly, Set your prodigious image

After knowing these etiquettes, you must develop the confidence to eat anywhere in public. The reason why you need to learn these manners is that you have to maintain a social standing and eating in a monstrous way would definitely ruin that. You must adhere to these tips and feel free to dine wherever you want, be it your home, your friends’ house or a five-star hotel.