Should one say anything to uncouth passengers?

[Emperor Norton]

As to the American habit of transferring the fork to the right hand to eat with I cant postulate a few things:

 

1. Puritans - you weren't meant to enjoy life and that includes your food. If it takes you that much longer to get the food in your mouth, youre not sinning for that fractional bit of time

 

and/or

 

2. Since most people are right handed it's a sign that for that moment at least that you're less likely to stab your table mates.

 

I think in most parts of the US ketchup on a hotdog is a crime, with sentence enhancements if that hotdog is actually a specialty sausage.

 

Getting back to the thread topic however what would you do if while dining in CR the person directly across from you was mining their nose like the motherlode and eating their "ore"? (this from a recent Caribbean voyage). Is that something you would speak up about or just ask to be relocated:confused:

[OrpingtonT]

Getting back to the thread topic however what would you do if while dining in CR the person directly across from you was mining their nose like the motherlode and eating their "ore"? (this from a recent Caribbean voyage). Is that something you would speak up about or just ask to be relocated:confused:

 

If I could get the words out because of my stomach retching, I would ask to be moved.

 

I have also seen this, though not at the table.

[Dawn1004]

Down in OZ we just say to the nose picker ....Oooh did you pick a winner! Which is then normally returned with a bright red face of the picker! Works on both child type pickers and adult type pickers.

 

Not sure what to say to the barefoot tablemate.

[TheSeaAroundUs]

... mint sauce (not jelly) with his lamb (note: Regent has both mint jelly and mint sauce on board).

I have sailed with the Brit who is (at least part of) the reason Regent now has the sauce. They only had jelly, so he brought his own Crosse and Blackwell on a world cruise and they held the bottle for him in La V (those lamb chops!). This went on through several bottles and I think into the next world cruise, and he didn't mind doing it, but at one point they produced a bowl of house-made mint sauce that was very good. I think the mâitre d' (lovely lady engaged to one of the butlers) took the end of the last bottle to the chef. So there you have it!

 

On the fork thing, I'm US-born but decided on my own at about age 10 that it was ridiculous to perform six actions (count 'em!) for each bite of food instead of two, and never turned back*. However if I'm eating something that doesn't need cutting I'll use my dominant hand. If I'm looking at a plate piled too high with La V buffet food of both types, it's a more complex choreography.:)

 

edit: to be honest, Mom's a leftie and I was exposed to Brits at an early age, so probably influenced by both those factors....

[nana541]

Hmmm a real relief to know Regent has "mint sauce" as that other stuff is just not worth the effort! I am looking forward to those Lamp Chops.....

[Travelcat2]

I have sailed with the Brit who is (at least part of) the reason Regent now has the sauce. They only had jelly, so he brought his own Crosse and Blackwell on a world cruise and they held the bottle for him in La V (those lamb chops!). This went on through several bottles and I think into the next world cruise, and he didn't mind doing it, but at one point they produced a bowl of house-made mint sauce that was very good. I think the mâitre d' (lovely lady engaged to one of the butlers) took the end of the last bottle to the chef. So there you have it!

 

On the fork thing, I'm US-born but decided on my own at about age 10 that it was ridiculous to perform six actions (count 'em!) for each bite of food instead of two, and never turned back*. However if I'm eating something that doesn't need cutting I'll use my dominant hand. If I'm looking at a plate piled too high with La V buffet food of both types, it's a more complex choreography.:)

 

edit: to be honest, Mom's a leftie and I was exposed to Brits at an early age, so probably influenced by both those factors....

 

 

Very interesting story about the mint sauce. Even I enjoy it with my lamb.

 

Having been married to a Brit for almost 33 years, I have learned to use my eating utensils both ways. In the United States where it is proper to keep one hand in your lap (like it is disabled or something), I follow suit. My DH has received "looks" from people who wonder why he eats the way he does and why his manners are so poor (we don't live in a very international city:-)

[RachelG]

I am left handed and have always eaten like a Brit with fork in left hand and knife in right. My husband thinks I am terribly ill mannered, and gets on to our sons if they don't leave one hand in their lap. But I tell them just to ignore him.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, I had no idea about the lap thing! What must my American friends think of me?

 

(Full disclosure: I'm a lefty.)

[Threechicks]

I used to have a terrible time convincing waiters in CR that that vile green jelly wasn't mint sauce but oddly enough it was never a problem in Verandah. I was planning to take a bottle on my next cruise but won't bother if it is now available in CR.

[nana541]

I used to have a terrible time convincing waiters in CR that that vile green jelly wasn't mint sauce but oddly enough it was never a problem in Verandah. I was planning to take a bottle on my next cruise but won't bother if it is now available in CR.

 

Would someone on the March 18 TA please please check this Mint Sauce dilema out :) (mint jelly is just plain icky) ok now can we move on to the "Mayo Debate" Best Food/Helmans vs Mircle Whip :D

[Travelcat2]

IMO, it is extremely funny to look at a table of people from the U.S. -- all with their hands in their lap. Of course we are permitted to use our other hand to hold the fork while we cut the meat and then transfer the fork back to the original hand. Following this procedure, your hand immediately returns to your lap:p

 

Answer to second question. . . . Best Foods.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well I guess the hand in the lap is to keep you from putting your elbow on the table, right? I admit I do that, even though I was taught not to as a child.

 

But I was also taught to keep the fork firmly in my left hand, and keep the knife firmly in my right, and to eat with those two implements in my hands, except when I had to put them down to butter bread, pass a serving plate, take a drink, etc. This was reinforced when I spent 9 months in Europe when I was just out of college.

[Travelcat2]

Wendy, you gave me a new image to think about:p When you rest in between bites you can't put your silverware down on the plate? Oh my!

[nana541]

Having a hard time with these rules...my Grandmother aka Miss Manners would not approve...who would have though! Just sayin :)

[2old4this]

Funny to find this fork, knife, and lap thing to be an issue with folks on Regent vessels when nary a word is written about it on the Cunard threads where strict protocol on such things should be expected. I just enjoyed two crossings in September with QM2 and I swear people there were eating in all sorts of ways. Probably half of the guests in the restaurant were British and no one appeared to care which hand reached for the salt or sat idle below the tablecloth. I suppose had I a finger probing a nostril I would have heard something such as: "Another uncouth Yank!" and "Probably his first time dining with educated people." Jack Morris

 

My crossings on Cunard's QM2 - http://awesome.webplus.net/theqm2/index.html

My cruise on Regent's Mariner - http://awesome.webplus.net/Eyeglasses/index.html

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Sure TC, you can put your silverware down whenever you like, when you're not eating. Just make sure not to put them side-by-side, since that means you're finished eating!

[Travelcat2]

Sure TC, you can put your silverware down whenever you like, when you're not eating. Just make sure not to put them side-by-side, since that means you're finished eating!

 

Although I know that, is there a particular position they are suppose to be in? Horizontal, vertical or ??? I tend to angle them . . . if it were a clock it would be like 10 minutes to 4. Tines up or down (we put them up). Learning cultural differences is interesting.

[rarin2go]

Although I know that, is there a particular position they are suppose to be in? Horizontal, vertical or ??? I tend to angle them . . . if it were a clock it would be like 10 minutes to 4. Tines up or down (we put them up). Learning cultural differences is interesting.

 

I was taught to leave them together and parallel with the handles to be found at at 4:20 or ESE by the compass (which may be the same as you?) - no rationale for this was given however! Nor do I recall any guidance regarding the disposition of the tines or (to take it one step further) the direction of the knife blade - I plump for tines up and knife to the right of the fork (derived from my handedness) with blade towards the fork - and have never experienced any disapproval in Europe.

 

I had not realised, however, about the correct position of the non-dominant hand when eating US-style - from my experience (albeit rather limited) this would seem a rule rather more honoured in the breach than the observance!;)

[lincslady]

I don't think any of the posts re knives and forks have a lot to do with being 'uncouth', which IMO should mean that you tell a member of staff, or move away, or both.

 

However, it is funny how nationalities differ in the use of cutlery. In the UK, my mother who insisted on what she thought was correct, was that you put your knife and fork down on the plate while you were chewing; held the knife in the 'correct' way, which I can't really describe, but which according to my husband shows who has good table manners and who does not; and put the cutlery down north to south at the end of the meal. In France, when we do this, waiters often replace them crossed, just to let us know we don't do it their French way!!! Which they of course think is correct.

[Hambagahle]

International differences!!

 

I really don't like the American way of keeping one hand on one's knee while using the other to eat with - that it, to use the fork! In Switzerland we normally use both knife and fork at the same time and if only the fork is needed, it is in the right hand and the left hand is gently rested on the table. No hands below table level -- Granny used to say "are you feeding the dog?" (Of course our dog would like this!!)

 

In the UK at the end of the meal, to show you have finished, you put your knife and fork across the plate - 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Here in CH, you tend to leave them slightly inclined to the right of 6pm. when our waiters pick up the plates they also cross the knives and forks but this is because it is easier for them to carry the plates without dropping them... And we certainly do not cut everything into little pieces and then eat it all with a fork in the left hand! Oh no!!

 

In many countries when you eat with your fingers (and at least you know where your fingers have been and how clean they are...) you do not eat with your left hand. Ever. India for example.

 

In some countries it is very very polite to burp loudly when finished to show appreciation of the meal.

 

So what exactly are "good manenrs" - IMO good manners is not offending anyone else...

[Travel2Learn]

As a trailing spouse for decades, I wished for a detailed manual on table manners according to country/culture. Various parts of the US and Europe were not so difficult to pick up nuances. I could always ask an American wife more experienced than me, and she would understand.

 

Asia was a challenge! One of the worst things I did - that I became aware of - was asking to take a leftover fish home for my cat. The fish was huge, about 3/4 untouched, and we were hosting the business dinner. There was a look of horror on all the other faces at the table. Apparently, the oldest person at the table should have the honor of being offered the fish head. I also think the staff was looking forward to the stupid foreigner leaving the delicacy. Worse yet, even dogs are higher on the heirarchy than cats because dogs can be eaten, but not cats. I was secretly happy to not let the waiter keep the fish because he had already switched the wine by putting cheap wine in an expensive bottle. Not wanting to make a fuss (wives are supposed to be silent objects when attending such affairs) I held back. My husband would never say anything to the waiter about the wine or the fish. He liked my attending these normally all male events because then he could skip the bar etc. scene after the dinner. The "etc." is a whole other topic!

[OrpingtonT]

In many countries when you eat with your fingers (and at least you know where your fingers have been and how clean they are...) you do not eat with your left hand. Ever. India for example.

 

 

I thought it was the right hand you should not use for eating with your fingers. What are we getting into?

[RachelG]

I am pretty sure it is the left hand you cannot use when eating with your fingers as I am left-handed and have always thought I would have to remember to eat right handed if faced with that situation.

[poss]

It's the hand that one doesn't use to pick the, er, nose. Seriously, the left hand is supposedly reserved for bathroom use, thus the right one for food. At least that's how it was explained to us when we were in Africa, and that's what I've read a few times in Arabic literature.

[OrpingtonT]

It seems I have got it wrong. After all, who am I to argue with such couth ladies as Gerry, Rachel & Poss. Especially as they are Trivia blessed ladies. :)