Fruit table etiquette: how to eat fruits and berries at ceremonial receptions. Fruit and berry etiquette How to eat fruit at the table

01.12.2020

The rules of etiquette for eating fruit may seem confusing at first. But for those who want to understand the rules of etiquette, we tried to systematize a few basic rules that apply at the table in a formal setting.

Fruits can be served at the table in various forms: on a common dish, peeled and cut into pieces or simply washed, fresh or as part of some kind of cooked dish, in the form of candied fruits, in syrup or with cream in bowls. And it is this factor that affects which cutlery we grab onto.

Now we will try to sort out the rules of etiquette into some categories to make it easier to eat fruit in a formal setting at the table.

peeled fruit. In most cases, peeled and chopped fruit is served to the table already divided into portions for each guest, then you just have to pick up a fork and knife served for fruit, and, cutting it into small pieces, enjoy the taste. The fruit should be placed with the cut side down on the plate, so that the juice that will come out of the fruit drains neatly to the bottom of the plate.
Unpeeled fruit. Here, first you should pay attention to the variety of the fruit itself, whether it is customary to peel it and then eat it, or whether it is eaten directly from the peel. If you are not aware of such details, then the best option would be to place the fruit on a plate with the skin down and the cut part up, so that the skin of the fruit absorbs the juice that will form when the fruit is cut. Fruit in this form can be served with a dessert spoon or a fruit knife with a fork.

Note: a very good clue on how to eat fruits according to etiquette is the dishes in which fruits are served.

From a bowl or a vase, dishes are eaten with a spoon, and from a flat plate with a fork and knife. If the fruit is served on a shared platter and there is a dedicated cutlery nearby to transfer the fruit to your plate, then you have no choice but to use it. And fruits that are shifted by hand will be served at the table without such a device. Never pick or feel fruit in order to put the best fruit on your plate. This is not cultural, as the hosts of the dinner tried to bring the best fruits to the table in advance.

But what about the rules of etiquette with seeds and seeds in fruits?

It all depends on the size. A stone like a plum or apricot is taken with three fingers (thumb on one side, index finger on the other) and placed on the edge of the plate. In order to get rid of the pits of cherries, for example, use a fork. Gently push the bone with the tongue to the edge of the tines of the fork and leave it in its intended place, this may be either the edge of the plate or a stand-up plate with a vase or bowl. And the last kind, fruit with stones that are too small to use a fork. They are carefully spat out into a hand folded into a fist, and are also placed on the edge of their plate. You can not spit them into a napkin and put them on the table.

We have considered the basic rules for eating fruits, but there are still some nuances for eating each individual fruit, especially exotic ones that rarely appear on the table in our latitudes.

In order to deal with them, follow the links located at the bottom of the article:

As one notorious hero of anecdotes and psychoanalysis said, sometimes a banana is just a banana. But you can mess with it too. For example, half of the population of our planet lives in happy ignorance that, it turns out, eating bananas is wrong. Stop putting up with it and making the same mistake! Here's how to actually eat a banana.

Even those who are far from the gym and all your protein shakes know about the nutritional benefits of bananas. But in order to get the most out of a positive berry (surprise! And a banana is not a fruit at all, but a very berry, from a botanical point of view), you need to use it in the right way. And no, it's not even about whether you start cleaning it from the "nose" or "tail".

It doesn't matter which side we peel the banana from. The important thing is that most diligently get rid of these long threads between the skin and the pulp. Yellow oblong fibers do not look very appetizing, we agree. But throwing them in the bin is a big mistake. Nutritionists insist on this.

The fact is that these fibers, which, by the way, are called phloems (you can show off your erudition during lunch) are a conductive tissue, the “vessels” of a banana. They carry out all the transport of nutrients necessary for fruit growth. And therefore, it is in the phloems that the concentration of all usefulness is much higher than in the pulp itself. So throwing them away is depriving yourself of a valuable source of potassium, fiber, vitamin A and vitamin B6.

And phloem will also help determine how ripe the banana is. In greenish fruits, the fibers are weakly expressed and are difficult to separate. But the threads of a ripe banana are easy to detect and remove. But is it necessary?

After the main courses of the solemn meal comes the turn of desserts, sweet pastries. In a decent society, the art of aesthetically feasting is very useful. There are some nuances here, but the etiquette of the fruit table is not very complicated. The hostess will need tips on how to decorate it in an original way, and the guests will find rules that will help them look elegant without disturbing the beauty of the party.

Rules for serving a fruit table

Serving and elegant presentation of fruit is a real creativity. Etiquette makes them part of the dessert table. The waiter or hostess brings them before sweet dishes. It is allowed to serve a common table with whole fruits in vases, in deep dishes.

Variety of fruit desserts

Whole berries, fruits;
Dried fruits, candied fruits;
In syrup or compote;
With cream;
Peeled or cut into slices;
Fruit carving (these are skillfully carved figures for the festive table as a decoration for dishes).

According to etiquette, each type of fruit dessert requires a special relationship and.

How to serve fruits to the table according to etiquette

A beautiful serving of fresh fruit according to etiquette is not only aesthetics. created for the convenience of guests. Bright fruits always look appetizing, there is a huge scope for imagination here. A bunch of grapes, ruddy apples, ripe plums without processing already look like a decoration. Fruit carving will make the design of desserts a real work of art.

General rules for serving fruits:

Be sure to wash all fruits. Before serving, let the berries take their original form and dry.
Napkins according to etiquette should be paper. On linen, traces of bright juice are too visible.
The dessert table is served with an individual fruit plate, knife, fork.
Thermally processed fruits, especially large cut or baked whole, compotes with fruits must be served with a spoon the size of a dessert.
Bananas, if they are not part of the table decoration, cut off the top.
Cheese, crackers or dry biscuits will perfectly serve as additions to the table.
Secure canapes with fruit slices with skewers and place them on a common plate. It will be convenient for guests to take them with their hands.
Slicing is beautifully served as a dish on a common table. Apples or carving will serve as decorations for a fruit plate.

How to Eat Fruit Etiquette

Fruit etiquette requires individual handling of each type of fruit dessert. Compotes, salads, berries with cream are eaten with a dessert or teaspoon. Usually they are served to each guest in bowls or cups. A vase with whole fruit or sliced \u200b\u200bfruits is handed over to neighbors on their own.

Banana

Few have thought about how to eat a banana according to etiquette. First, transfer it from a common plate to an individual dessert plate. Correctly peeling a banana, as required by etiquette, is quite simple. If the fruit is whole, cut off the tip with a fruit knife, make an incision along the entire length. Peel off the skin carefully. The flesh is cut into small pieces, eaten with a fork. If no utensils are served, a peeled banana can be eaten with a dessert spoon or broken off a little.

Citrus

How to eat orange, tangerine, lemon by etiquette? Chopped fruits are transferred with a common device to their plate and eat with a fork and knife. Tangerines in the peel are peeled, divided into slices, eaten with the hands. The top of the orange is removed with a knife, several cuts are made along, the peel is removed. You can immediately cut the fruit into slices. Eat with a fork and knife.

Flesh from half grapefruit removed with a sharp fruit spoon. Tart fruit can be sprinkled with sugar.

To the sliced lemon a small fork with two prongs is attached, with which the slice fits on the edge of the plate or in tea.

Apples and pears

The whole fruit is transferred by hand to a plate, if desired, the peel is removed with a knife, then divided into slices, the core with seeds is cut out. After eating an apple or pear according to etiquette correctly with a fork and knife.

Exotic fruits

Avocado, kiwi and mango according to etiquette, it is correct to divide it in half with a knife and eat with a spoon as a dessert.
Pineapple and pomegranate are not served whole. A pineapple free from the core, cut into rings or slices. The fruit is then eaten with cutlery. Pomegranate halves are brought to guests. You have to eat it with a spoon.
How persimmon Etiquette is correct? Put the fruit on a plate with the core down, cut in half, then eat with a teaspoon. It is allowed to dress the dense pulp with a knife.
Etiquette allows kumquat eat with your hands or use cutlery at the request of the guest.

Apricots, plums, peaches

The fruit is carefully cut lengthwise, divided by hand in half, the bone is removed. Then the fruit is put on a plate, eaten with a fork and knife. The peel can be left on the edge of the dish.

Berries

Currants are held by the twigs and the necessary portion of berries is separated with teeth. Whole cherries, sweet cherries, strawberries served with cuttings. It is eaten with one hand. Large bones are stacked on the edge of the plate.

Small berries (lingonberries, raspberries, blueberries) on the table can be seen in bowls as part of the dessert. For food use a spoon.

watermelon and melon

A slice of watermelon is quite large and is served on a dinner plate. A small piece is separated with a knife, and the seeds are cleaned with a fork. The tender pulp of a melon is more convenient to separate with a dessert spoon, but if it is dense, you can use sharp cutlery.

Grape

A small bunch is separated from a bunch of grapes on a common table with special scissors. When the berries are on a plate, they can be torn off by the cuttings and eaten with your hands. Spitting out the bones is unacceptable.

Fruit etiquette becomes intuitive with experience. A special approach to each dish should not be intimidating. Aesthetically enjoying berries or fruits is very simple.

Video

How to eat watermelon, grapefruit, nectarine, grapes, strawberries and other berries - you can see in this video.

Eating fruits and berries is undoubtedly a pleasant process. At home, no one thinks about the rules of etiquette and how to eat fruits. If at home a banana skin or a peach pit can be put in a fruit bowl, then in a restaurant or at a party you should behave appropriately, that is, follow the rules of fruit and berry etiquette.

What is the right way to eat fruits?

Pears and apples are usually on the table in a common vase. They take the fruit with their left hand, and with the right hand, remove the skin with a knife. By the way, you need to start cleaning an apple or pear from the stem and in a spiral. Move the cut skin to the edge of the plate, and put the peeled fruit in its middle. Now gently wipe your left hand with a napkin, take a fork into it and cut the fruit into two halves with a knife. Remove the core of the fruit with a knife, hold it with a fork, and place it on the skin scraps. If you are at an official reception or in a restaurant, then slices of an apple or pear should be eaten with a fork.

Peaches also need to be peeled, but only the part where it can be easily removed. Move the cut skin to the edge of the plate and put the fruit in the middle. To remove the stone, the fruit is taken in the left hand and cut in a circle. After breaking the peach into two parts and removing the stone, they put it on a plate and cut it into pieces, sending it to the mouth. An apricot does not need to be cut into pieces, as the halves are much smaller than those of a peach.

As for the grapes, they are eaten with their hands - they hold the brush with the left, and the berries are torn off with the right in turn. According to table etiquette, grape berries should be eaten whole, that is, with seeds and peel. If you were served grape berries in a bowl, that is, you need them with a spoon. In this case, it is permissible to spit out the bones on the edge of the spoon, and then transfer them to a special plate.

For some reason, many of us are afraid of not being able to handle the peeling of an orange. Take the orange in your left hand, cut off the circle around the peduncle and make circular cuts vertically. Moreover, circular incisions should not reach the stem. Now put the fruit on a plate and open the skin along the cuts to the stalk to get a kind of flower with a whole fruit inside. Then, using a knife and fork, cut an orange slice and free it from the seeds, cutting it in half. You need to eat orange slices with a fork. But the use of mandarin does not require appliances.

Pineapple is eaten with a knife and fork. As a rule, this exotic fruit is served sliced or in bowls, so you need to use it with a small spoon (dessert, teaspoon).

Banana is no longer considered an exotic fruit, because it is easy to buy at any time of the year. This amazing product can not only complement lunch, but also replace it, saturating the body with useful trace elements.

But how to properly peel a banana to just eat or serve beautifully?

Traditionally

Usually bananas are peeled in two ways:

From the cutting

Take the fruit with the cutting up, tear it downwards, continuing to separate the peel to half. Separate the remaining strips in the same way. As a result, about half will be cleared, which can be eaten immediately. If you need to peel the whole, the peel is separated to the very end, and the edible part is removed from the outer shell.

From the tip

Press on the tip so that the crust bursts. You can pry it off with a fingernail or a sharp object. Brush in strips (there are usually three for medium sizes) from top to bottom to half or to the end.

Advice! If you do not know which side to peel the fruit, do it as convenient. By the way, the first fruit connoisseurs - monkeys - peel a banana from the tip.

Before serving, it is very convenient to cut the product across into several parts without peeling. So everyone can take their favorite piece and effortlessly clean the fruit.

Non-standard options

In the following ways, you can clean the product in an unusual and quite spectacular way. In any case, it is not boring, somewhat surprising for others:

Cut lengthwise from stem to tip into quarters, carefully following the curve. This way, peculiar slices are obtained, resembling a cut melon. Subsequently, the yellow peel is very easy to remove.
Take an unripe (important!) banana, place the curved part towards you, then break it in half, as if trying to straighten it. Clean the halves in the usual way.

Cut off the ends on both sides, cut the crust along with a sharp knife from two opposite sides. Remove it, starting at either end.

Take the fruit with both hands at a hand distance of about 5 cm. Carefully turn the fruit in opposite directions, as if it were to be twisted. The shell will burst, it can be easily removed.

For the latter method, a mature and soft product is not suitable - when twisted, the flesh under the skin will turn into porridge.

Banana pulp can not only be eaten, but also used as a cleansing face mask, and the peel is often used as an excellent fertilizer for vegetable crops. This is one of the few fruits that you can eat without really caring about the cleanliness of your hands, which is why a banana is an indispensable product for a walk or a picnic.