Not a single feast can do without bread. Proverbs, sayings and even fairy tales write about him. Even doctors say about its benefits. Invariably respectful attitude to this valuable product was reflected in the standards of behavior at the table. It would seem nothing complicated, but there are certain rules.
Basic Rules
Sitting at the table, it is important not only to behave correctly, but also to eat food according to the rules of etiquette. They exist for bread.
The most important rule is that a slice is always taken with your hands from a common dish. After that, you put a piece to your plate.
If you are in a restaurant, then in front of you will be a pie plate, on which you need to put bread. If there is no such dishes in front of you, then it is permissible to put a slice on the edge of the snack plate. She is served first. By the way, cake, cookies and fruits are also taken by hand. Interestingly, even sugar in cubes can be taken with your fingers if the tongs are stored somewhere.
They eat bread, helping themselves exclusively with their left hands, breaking off small pieces. To do this, you first need to free your hand from the plug. The device is placed on the edge of the plate with its teeth up. The knife is left in the right hand. Try to accustom yourself to this rule, otherwise you can automatically take a neighbor’s bread.
There are slight exceptions to this rule, which are based on national traditions. For example, when using soups of Ukrainian or Russian cuisine, bread can be bitten off.
Nobody puts snacks on a slice. Only pasty products can be applied to it - oil or paste. They are picked up with a knife from a common plate and transferred to their dish. Caviar from a common plate can immediately be put on bread.
Apply oil also in accordance with the rules. Break off a small piece from a slice and press a finger to a plate. After that you can spread the oil. It is not customary to apply on the entire piece, only on the edge, designed for one bite. If you want ham or cheese with bread, then you can eat them separately.
As a rule, the oil is rectangular in shape; there is a special knife for it. The blade of such a knife is rounded. There are cloves on the edge. This is necessary in order to gently separate a small amount of oil, put it in a bowl, and then spread on a slice.
Sometimes restaurants serve olive oil. It is necessary so that you can dunk bread in it. It is served portionwise for everyone. Dipping is necessary in very small pieces, which immediately go to the mouth.
However, there is an exception - the rules of etiquette at breakfast. They are much simpler. At the table you can make sandwiches from various snacks. It turned out big - then put it on your plate and cut it into small pieces that are convenient to prick with the cloves of the fork.
You can still smear jam or honey on a slice. Before doing this, cut the slice into long pieces.
Bread is always present on our table. It can be a simple breakfast, or maybe a solemn meal. In each case, you must not forget about the rules of table etiquette.
The main way is to take a slice with your hands from a basket or dish, if they are located near you.
There are two more options. The first is to get a piece from the breadbox using tongs, if any.
The second method is similar to the main method, but it uses a napkin. In this case, if you took a piece, but you did not like it, then you have the right to put it back and take another. But if you took the bread with your hands without a napkin, you can’t categorically put it back!
Usually a slice lies on a table either in a bread box or in a basket. If it is sliced, then take a basket and first offer it to the neighbor on the right, only then take it yourself. If the bread is not sliced, then you must do it yourself.
Before you take a piece, offer the neighbor on the left, and then the neighbor on the right. When the last slice remains on the table, before you take it, treat the rest.
According to etiquette, it is forbidden to make the following manipulations with bread:
- Take cutlery: with a fork or knife!
- Putting on a table or napkin.
- Grind in your hands and throw in a plate.
- Hold in palm and smear with oil.
- Do not eat up and leave on a plate.
- Biting from a common piece.
- Cut a piece smeared with butter.
- Putting snacks on bread. The exception is breakfast.
- Wipe a piece of the plate.
- Roll balls from the crumb.
- Hold a slice in one hand and a drink in the other.
- Leave the bitten pieces on a plate.
How to eat sandwiches?
Butterbrot is translated from German as bread and butter. Today, a sandwich can be with any filler. Sausage, pate, vegetables - all this is perfect for the filling. When making a sandwich, it is important that the thickness of the slice is no more than 1 cm. Appearance should not be strong and especially fall out of the sandwich.
When serving, usually put a napkin under the sandwich so as not to get your hands dirty. If you are sitting at a table, then eat a sandwich with a fork and knife. Cut with the expectation of one bite. Sandwiches are divided into several types, each of which must be eaten in different ways, since there are certain rules.
Classic - bread and butter and the addition on top. Such sandwiches are made at home daily, but no one is watching you there, so you can eat it the way you prefer. If you were offered to try such a sandwich in a restaurant, you need to eat using cutlery. A small piece must be cut so that it is easily chewed and swallowed.
Big hot sandwich
A sandwich is multilevel. Often such food does not fit in the mouth.Therefore, in order not to look awkward, use cutlery. It happens that they are not, in this case paper napkins come to the rescue.
If you have a hot sandwich in front of you, the same rules apply for it as for a multi-level one.
However, if cheese is present on your slice, then you need to cut it to the borders of a piece of bread. Otherwise, they can get their faces dirty during meals or they will just hang down, which is not aesthetically pleasing.
Small sandwiches and sandwiches
If you are at a common table, then small sandwiches should be transferred to your plate using special devices. After that, you can eat it with your hands, without cutting and without using a fork.
Canapes and sandwiches are also eaten by hand. They are mainly served before a general meal, at a buffet table.
A sandwich is a sandwich made up of two pieces of bread. In the middle put a different filling. Canapes can be of two types: with soft filling and with hard. To eat canapes, hold on to the skewer or the bottom layer of the sandwich.
Bread Traditions
Every nation has traditions that it adheres to without question. So we have not a single feast can do without bread. In other countries, it is also far from the last product. Germany is considered a country of bread fashion at all. It was the Germans who taught everyone to eat bread with different additives: olives, cabbage, carrots, nuts and raisins, seeds.
Great Britain is another country with a high bread culture. In Britain, a variety of types of bread are baked with the addition of whole grains of cereals and seeds. Each resident can afford some varieties, while others are intended only for rich people.
From Italy in the mid-90s, the famous ciabatta came to us. The shape of this sort of bread is oblong, which justifies the name in translation - “slipper”. It contains, among other things, olive oil.
A loaf can be dense and light, depending on the recipe adopted in each province or even settlement. But always with a crisp. Use ciabatta today to make sandwiches around the world.
It is interesting that in Italy bread is not produced in large quantities. Often, each Italian bakes it for himself.
In the Italian restaurant it is forbidden to eat bread or bread sticks in between meals.
The Spaniard's morning also begins with freshly baked bread. This is where the tradition of dipping slices into olive oil with garlic came from. The bun is cut into several small pieces and, with the help of a fork, is lowered into aromatic oil.
France is not only unsurpassed perfumery, but also unusually tasty airy bread. The inhabitants of France eat it every day and do not get fat. It's all about a unique recipe that does not provide for the use of milk.
If you cook the bun correctly and use it wisely, then you will not get better. In restaurants, bread is served with the main course, sometimes with cheese at the end of the meal.
Swiss shepherds invented the first fondue. On pasture, they came to the conclusion that if you cut bread into small cubes, string them on a skewer and place in melted cheese, you will get not only a very hearty meal, but also incredibly tasty. This is where the tradition came from, dipping slices of bread or rolls into various hot additives.
More about how to take bread when you are sitting at the table, see the next video.
