[00:00.00] Table Manners and Customs

[00:04.60]In Geat Britain today

[00:08.33]good manners at table include eating with the mouth closed;

[00:14.18]not letting any of the food the plate;

[00:19.33]using the knife only for cutting;

[00:23.38]and not trying to take food across the table.

[00:28.63]In other parts of the world there are

[00:33.07]also rules for people to follow when they are eating,

[00:38.64]but they are not the same as those of Britain.

[00:43.39]Indeed,what are considered good table manners in some other countries

[00:50.65]are what British people try hardest to avoid.

[00:55.59]In Arabia,for instance,the people at a feast

[01:01.26]take pieces of food with their fingers

[01:06.09]and belch loudly to show they have appreciated it.

[01:12.15]The richer and more educated people in the East have,

[01:17.90]however,to a great extent taken up the

[01:22.76]table manners and customs of Western people.

[01:27.72]Tables and chairs have replaced the cushions of the past,

[01:34.07]and the lady fo the house presides at one end of the table

[01:39.92]in the same way that Western women do.

[01:44.46]Many Japanese,however,

[01:48.72]still feel it would be wrong to eat unless they sitting on a cushion

[01:55.77]before a low table with a tray of food on it.

[02:01.03]In many parts of the world both traditional

[02:06.38]and Western styles of eating exist side by side.

[02:12.55]In the West there are difference

[02:17.30]between table manners in various countries,

[02:22.24]although they are not so marked.

[02:26.29]In North America it is polite to cut meat and then put the knife down,

[02:34.04]take the fork in the right hand and eat with it.

[02:39.01]Most European people,like the British,

[02:44.55]keep the fork in the left hand

[02:48.70]and the knife in the right

[02:52.25]all the time when they are eating food that has to be cut.

[02:57.32]In the British lsles and Scandinavia(Norway,Sweden,Denmark and Iceland)

[03:05.86]special knives and forks are used for eating fish.

[03:11.43]In France,Belgium and Italy,however,

[03:16.78]it is correct to keep the same knife for every course,

[03:21.93]wiping it on a piece of bread.

[03:25.77]Drinking customs at table also vary in different countries.

[03:32.19]In Europe,water,wine or beer is drunk with meals

[03:38.83]and coffee or tea is taken afterwards.

[03:43.79]In North America a beverage such as coffee,

[03:49.22]tea or milk is drunk with meals.

[03:54.48]Table manners of course have changed with time.

[03:59.31]The earliest meals were also the simplest.

[04:04.17]They were eaten sitting on the ground round a fire,

[04:09.84]and everyone took his food from a pot on the fire

[04:15.48]or cut bits from the animal or bird that had been cooked.

[04:21.72]The women waited on the warriors and afterwards ate what they left.

[04:28.67]Fingers were used to eat food throughout the middle ages.

[04:34.52]Food was eaten off wooden dishes with the noblemen

[04:40.37]sitting above a large salt cellar called simply"the salt".

[04:46.93]The ordinary people sat below the salt.

[04:51.76]In the reign of Henry VIII(1509-1547),

[04:58.81]people were still eating with their hands after cutting the food

[05:04.67]with a clasp knife which was always carried at the belt.

[05:10.23]Forks were not used in England until the 17th century.

[05:16.19]Table manners did not always include quiet behavior.

[05:21.83]Quarrels often took place at table,

[05:26.30]and in the 17th century King Louis XIV of France

[05:32.64]ordered that all knives should have rounded ends

[05:38.18]to prevent prople from stabbing each other while they were eating.