The Essential Guide to Dining Etiquette around the World

By Michelle Mangan

 

When traveling around the world, our dining etiquette should depend on how we consume food as well as where we do so. These details can vary hugely depending on what country you’re visiting. While chilled out casual crawfish boils and laid back BBQ feasts are the ‘norm’ for some Austinites, in other parts of the world, dining has an entire set of rules to abide by and in some cases they can be quite complex.

 

Take Japan for example. Whether you are dining in someone’s home or out in a Japanese restaurant, if you are using chopstick you should never cross them, lick, them, or stick them vertically into a bowl of rice (a common food in Japan) as all of these are considered extremely rude.  If you are eating sushi or sashimi, good table manners dictate that you should never dip either directly into soy sauce on your plate, but that you should dip them into a separate bowl of soy sauce first and then eaten whole.  If you are dining out in a restaurant it is also worth knowing that your serving staff is not expecting a tip, in fact doing so is actually considered rude in Japan unlike most western countries.

 

In other countries like Morocco, it’s customary to scoop your food with a piece of bread, or your thumb and the first two fingers of your right hand.  In France, you should finish everything on your plate but leave your wine glass nearly full if you do not want more.

 

For more fascinating facts about the dining etiquette in other countries around the world take a look at the infographic below, created by Ard na Sidhe of Country House.  For more from Michelle Mangan visit ardnasidhe.com/romantic-weekend-breaks-ireland.html.