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What to do when you invite someone round, how to set the table, how to arrange the
seating.
A few simple rules for you to remember.
In important lunches the number of the tools corresponds to the number of the courses, up to a maximum of three forks and three spoons. A fourth tool, eventually necessary, will be brought at the moment. The first tools to be used are those that are placed
farther.
| Knife |
To the right of the dish and with the blade turned inside, it only serves those foods that cannot be consumed with the
fork. It has to be grasped holding the index on the back of the handle, but without touching the
blade. Don't prepare the bits on the plate, but instead the piece already cut has to be pierced in the fork and brought to the
mouth; during the breaks, the knife doesn't have to be leaned on the
tablecloth, but in the dish, in the opposite side of the fork, with the tips that touch each
other.
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| Small
knife |
It is used for the fruit and eventually for the
cheese.
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| Spoon |
It is on the right of the dish with the concave side that leans on the
tablecloth.
It is used for eating the soup from the holster, must be half-filled with a movement that goes from the edge of the table toward the center, the spoon reaches the mouth with the
tip, without sipping more than once from the same spoonful.
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| Middle
spoon |
Used to mix and taste the broth and the
"vellutine" in cup, or for the creamy desserts. Do not leave the spoon in the
cup, but on the saucer.
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| Small
spoon |
It is used to mix the sugar in teacups or coffee
cups, with a vertical movement (from top down and vice versa), never
rotatory.
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| Teaspoon |
For ice creams and
sherbets.
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| Fork |
It has to be positioned to the left of the dish, with the concave part that leans on the table, it has to be held between the thumb and the index, with the tips turned upward; when it is used with the knife, the handle has to be grasped, with the index extended, tips down. During the breaks, it has to be placed on the dish paralleling to the table. Do not use the fork for mashing the food, neither for " to fork" two bits at a time.
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| Small
fork |
Used for fruit and solid desserts. For the cakes are to be preferred special forks.
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| Fork
with two tips |
Placed on the right of the dish, it serves for removing the snails from the hull.
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| Tools for fish |
Essential for a formal lunch. In less important occasions, the fish can be eaten with the fork helping yourself with a piece of bread.
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| Tools
for dessert |
They are placed right upwards the dish in the following order: the spoon with the handle toward right; the fork with the handle on the left. They serve for the creamy sweets: the spoon in the right is brought to the mouth; the fork serves just to push on the spoon possible bits of fruit or chocolate that are mixed with the cream. These tools must be put back on the saucer, never in the bowl.
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| Tools
for fruit |
They are generally brought to the table with the fruit saucer.
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Once you finished eating, the table companions put the tools in the dish, in couple, in the position between " four and twenty and four and thirty."
The personal tools are not to be used to take food from the course
dish.
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