10 étiquette mistakes that Indians make while dining out

Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.



It was a Sunday, my husband and I went to a popular restaurant in Mumbai. As we were having our meal, we noticed a group of young kids ordering their meal. The first one snapped his fingers, the second whistled and the third shouted, 'anna' waving his hand out. It was then that I realised that we were taught a lot of subjects in school but the most important one was missed. Etiquette is not a loud and explicit rule; it is soft and subtle and yet always carries you further when you observe appropriate etiquette in the right setting.  The following are the top 10 mistakes which most of us make while dining out:

1.     Keeping their bags on the table:

Purse Hook

Correct

A table is purely meant for keeping crockery, cutlery, food and beverages. Bags and clutches are supposed to be kept either on the floor (in front of your feet) or on your lap. In India very few restaurants have the convenience of a ‘purse hook’, otherwise it is the ideal and best way to put your bag

Wrong

Bags should not be kept on the table or bags should not be hung on the chair. 

2.     Eating big bites and talking while eating:

No one is interested in seeing how well you are chewing your food. Food bites should be small so that you can chew it properly before talking. Smaller bites are good for your health and also spare your neighbor from seeing a sight, which they wished they could avoid seeing.  The entire food on the plate is yours no one will take it away J

           

3.     No slurping, No burping, No licking:

Music is entertaining but not while eating.  You love noodles, even I do but not when it is treated as a musical instrument. You enjoy beverages, everyone does but please don’t make sounds.

Eating neatly and tidily is an art, will start practicing it. No one enjoys watching people licking and sucking the food on their fingers in public.

I know the food is delicious :) But should we not eat as much as our stomach permits? Over eating leads to people burping loudly, which if wanted can be done softly. 

4.     Making the ‘kit-kat’ sound:

If you’ve noticed people rub their forks and knifes so much on the plate that you can hear sounds when they are eating their food. While eating your spoon and knife or fork is not supposed to rub against the plate, you should just slide your fork cleverly enough not to make a sound. People should not feel as if you are struggling to have your meal, it should look as if you are enjoying every bit of it.

5.     Dirty Napkins:

The moment you are seated on a table, in a lot of fine dining restaurants the server comes instantly and pulls the chair for you and puts the napkin on your lap. But incase they don’t, please make the effort do it on your own. Napkins are supposed to be placed on your lap from the moment you are seated till you finish your meal. You are expected to remove your napkin after everyone else on the table is done with their meals. You are expected to fold your napkin and not crumple it and keep it on the left side of your plate. Another thing which people should keep in mind is, incase they have to get up from their chair during their meal, majority of the people conveniently soil their napkins with dirty hands and leave it on the table. NO you cannot do that. You should politely say excuse me, get up, and then leave the napkin on your chair which indicates that you are not done with your meal and you will come back.

6.     Mobile Phones.. Ouch ;)

The moment we see the red light blinking, our heart beats starts racing . I know its difficult to not read the message, the text or the email but it is basic courtesy to keep your phone on silent so that you make your guest feel that he or she is getting undivided attention. Messaging, chatting, texting, browsing, emailing and talking is just an indication that you have other important things to do, so you wish to get done with dinner fast.

7.     Elbows on the table:

When seated your elbows should never be on the table, your hands should be on your lap when not eating. While eating you can put your forearms on the table but not your elbows. Tables are big but they need enough space for many other things.

8.     Biting your food:

Animals bite their food because they don’t have any other option. As human beings we have the skills to use our hands efficiently and also added options of spoons and forks. Indians were once considered to be very well mannered while eating because we never had to bite our food; we used our hands to have our breads and rice. But as we love being influenced we’ve started biting out sandwiches, pizzas, rolls etc. We should use a knife and fork to have any item, which needs to be cut before it enters our mouth. There is nothing wrong in tearing a piece of bread with both our hands and having the torn piece, what is wrong is to bite the bread directly.

9.     Our favorite ‘Anna’ or ‘Bhaiya’ and at times ‘Boss’ too ;)

Its good to treat the servers well and make them feel comfortable, its appreciated by everyone. But you cannot be whistling to call them or screaming ‘bhaiya’ or ‘boss’ or ‘anna'. One of the very first things we are taught in school is to say ‘excuse me’. Lets start using it more often than we do. And lets save our talents to whistle for cricket matches or movies.

10. Keeping the chairs and napkins back in place:

I know we all feel we own the world and when the servers are there to keep things back in place why should we? But it is considered to be polite to keep things back in place. After getting up from the chair it’ll take a second to push the chair back in place. Please fold your napkin and not crumple it and keep it on the left side of your plate.

It is very important to be well mannered and well behaved. It reflects on our upbringing, education and awareness. Not everyone gets a chance to talk to everyone sitting in the restaurant but you never know whose eyes are on you. You are being watched.