How to eat. . .

This “how to eat” section was inspired by a CAEA fine dinning event dating back to Oct. 2005. The participants raised some great questions, like: how do you butter bread, what you do with butter if it is still frozen, how you eat fruit at a dinner table etc.

One of them was puzzled by the fact that Americans enjoy eating artichokes. “I don’t understand what they eat. There’s nothing there. It’s just some leaves with a very dry taste.” He said.

Someone added “it’s the same feeling for Americans to see Chinese people eating chicken feet. We think it’s delicious but they say there is nothing on it except the dry skin.” Then everyone wanted to know how to actually cook artichokes. When they learned that the heart is actually quiet tasteful served with melted butter or sauce. But in order to get the tasty heart, you need to be very patient with peeling away towards it, leaf by leaf.

We have listed some of questions that were asked at the event below. We will continue to update the list as we receive more questions. The reference source is from Emily Post’s party and dinning tips.

How to eat grapes?

When pulling grapes off a bunch, don’t pull them one at a time. Instead, break off a branch bearing several grapes from the main stem. If the grapes have seeds, eat them in one of two ways: 1) Lay a grape on its side, pierce the center with the point of a knife, and lift and remove the seeds. 2) Put a grape in your mouth whole, deposit the seeds into your thumb and first two fingers, and place the seed on your plate.

How to eat artichokes?
Artichoke leaves are always eaten with the fingers. Pluck off a leaf on the outside, dip its meaty base into the melted butter or sauce provided, then place it between your front teeth and pull forward. Continue leaf by leaf, placing discarded leaves on the edge of your plate _or on a plate provided for the purpose), until you’ve reached the artichoke’s thistlelike choke or when the leaves are too small or meatless. Use your knife to slice off the remaining leaves and the choke, exposing the artichoke heart. Then cut the heart into bite-sized pieces and eat it with a fork, dipping each forkful into the melted butter or sauce.

How to eat Sandwiches and Wraps?
Sandwiches more than an inch thick should be cut into halves or quarters before being picked up and held in the fingers of both hands – although a sandwich of any size can be eaten with a knife and fork. A knife and fork are always used for a hot open-faced sandwich covered in gravy or sauce.

Wraps – Burritos, gyros and other sandwiches in which the filling is wrapped ion thin, flat bread are more easily eaten with hands. Any filling that falls to the plate is eaten with a fork.

How to eat bread?
Before eating bread, use your fingers to break it into moderate-sized (not bit –sized) pieces. Then butter the bread one piece at a time. Holding it against your plate, not in your hand. Hot biscuit halves and toast can be buttered all over at once because they taste best when the butter is melted.

If a restaurant serves an entire round loaf of bread on a cutting board, use the accompanying bread knife to cut it slices rather than wedges. Start at one side by cutting a thin slice of crust, then slice toward the center.

How to eat bacon?
Eat fried bacon as a finger food when it is dry, crisp and served whole. If the bacon is broken into bits, served in thick slices (as with Canadian bacon), or limp, eat it with knife and fork as you would any other meat.

How to eat cheese?
When served as an hors d’oeuvre, cheese is cut or spread on a cracker with a knife. Provide a separate knife for each cheese so that the individual flavors won’t mingle.

When cheese is served with fruit for dessert, it is sliced and placed on the plate with the fruit. Like the fruit, it is eaten with a knife and fork, not with the fingers.

When an after –dinner cheese course is ordered at a restaurant, the cheese will come arranged on plates centered with bread or crackers, a piece of fruit, or perhaps a small fruitcake of some sort. Cheeses served on bread or crackers are eaten with the fingers, but a knife and fork are used for everything on a place holding cheeses and fruit or fruitcake (the cheeses are eaten separately so that the full flavor comes through). Start with the milder cheeses and progress to the strongest.

How to eat baked potatoes (white and sweet)?
Baked white potatoes and sweet potatoes can be eaten in more than one way. The most common is to slit the top lengthwise with a knife, push on each end of the potato to open it wide, and mash some of the flesh with a fork. An alternative is to slice the potato clean through and lay the hovels skin-down side by side.

Add butter, salt, and pepper (plus extras like sour cream, cheese, or bacon bits, if desired) and use your fork to mash the additions lightly into the flesh before taking a forkful from the shell.

Another method is to slice the potato in half lengthwise and use your fork to scoop the flesh of both halves onto your plate. Neatly, stack the skins together on the edge of your plate and mix butter and any other condiments into the flesh with your fork.

If you like to eat the skin as well as the flesh, cut the potato into tow halves and use your knife and fork to cut the potato and skin into bite-sized pieces, one or two at a time.

How to eat bananas?
At an informal dinner, it’s fine to peel a banana and eat it out of hand; just peel it gradually, not all at once. At a more formal dinner, follow your fellow diners’ lead on whether to use fingers or fork. When a banana is eaten with a fork, the banana is peeled completely (the skin goes onto the edge of the plat) and cut into slices, a few at a time.