Table
Manners - 10 Finger Foods
Artichoke
The artichoke is actually the leaf-enclosed flower bud of a plant that
is in the thistle family. It is usually served steamed with a dipping
sauce. To eat it, pull a leaf off, dip it, scrape the flesh from the
base of the leaf with your top teeth, and discard the leaf on the plate
provided for that purpose. Switch to fork and knife, first to remove the
choke, then to eat the heart and base.
Asparagus
Asparagus may be eaten with the fingers as long as it is not covered
with sauce or otherwise prepared so it is too mushy to pick up easily.
Of course, it is also just fine to use a fork and knife to eat
asparagus, even when it is perfectly al dente and sauce-free. But you
might appreciate getting to act like a rebel without breaking any rules.
Bacon
When bacon is cooked until it is very crisp, and there is no danger of
getting the fingers wet with grease, it is okay to pick it up to eat it.
This is an instance of practicality winning out over decorum, since
trying to cut a crisp piece of bacon usually results in crushing it into
shards that are quite difficult to round up onto a fork.
Bread
Bread must always be broken, never cut with a knife. Tear off a piece
that is no bigger than two bites worth and eat that before tearing off
another. If butter is provided (and at formal events it customarily is
not), butter the small piece just before eating it. There is an
exception to this rule: if you are served a hot roll, it is permissible
to tear (not cut) the whole roll lengthwise down the middle and place a
pat of butter inside to melt.
Cookies
It is never necessary to try to eat the cookie that comes as a garnish
to your dessert with a spoon. Unless it has fallen so far into the
chocolate sauce that there isn't a clean corner by which to pick it up.
Corn on the Cob
It is unlikely that it will be served at a formal event, but if you
encounter corn on the cob, it may be picked up and eaten. The approved
method of doing so is to butter one or two rows at a time and to eat
across the cob cleanly.
Chips, French Fries, Fried Chicken, and Hamburgers
All these items (which could also probably be classified as "fast
foods") simply will not be served in a formal setting. Most are intended
to be eaten with the hands, although a particularly messy hamburger
could be approached with fork and knife, and steak fries (the thick-cut,
less crispy variety) may be best eaten with a fork.
Hors d'Oeuvres, Canapes, Crudités
Almost everything that is served at a cocktail party or during a
pre-meal cocktail hour is intended to be eaten with the fingers. Some of
these foods make appearances at regular meals as well (although not
often very formal ones). When they do, it is still permissible to use
the fingers to eat them. This includes olives, pickles, nuts, deviled
eggs, and chips.
Sandwiches
The straightforward sandwich -- that is, any sandwich that is not
open-faced, not too tall to fit in the mouth, not saturated with
dripping sauces or loaded with mushy fillings -- is intended to be
picked up and eaten. Otherwise use fork and knife.
Small Fruits and Berries on the Stem
If you are served strawberries with the hulls on, cherries with stems,
or grapes in bunches, then it is okay to eat them with your fingers.
Otherwise, as with all berries, the utensil of choice is a spoon. In the
case of grapes, you may encounter a special scissors, to be used to cut
off a small cluster from the bunch. If not, tear a portion from the
whole, rather than plucking off single grapes, which leaves a cluster of
unattractive bare stems on the serving platter.
