Guest Post: The Etiquette of Fine Dining, Part 2

or, How I Learned to Start Eating and Bounce the Bomb

A guest post by my truckbuddy Tim from England via Spain:

A week or so back Russ posted a lovely video clip about the trials and tribulations of teenage angst and the difficulties of dining etiquette. Well, here, in Part 2, is my contribution to the problem.

Now as you will know from previous posts, I was a skinny child, painfully thin, and not given to sport. My mother, naturally, was well aware of this, but despite her best efforts I was always a picky eater, and under no circumstances would eat greens or vegetables, no matter how well cooked or nutritious they were. Meat and fish were similarly disdained, along with any accompanying sauces; I must have been a nightmare! Of course, all the usual tricks were employed. ‘No dessert until you’ve eaten your veg, go to your room until you’re hungry, other little children in the world are starving’ - but all these blandishments had little effect on me. Only one meal ever tempted me, that great British staple of the 1950’s, Bangers and Mash – preferably with lots of little green peas and thick onion gravy. Just like this:

Bangers and Mash? - Linked sausages using ground meat, usually pork or beef, with spices or herbs, like your breakfast or country sausages, and potato, mashed and creamed with milk and butter. Possibly one of Britain's favourite dishes since the end of WWI, up until the 1980's, eclipsed only by fish and chips, and now McDonald’s. So popular was this dish in Britain we even made a song about it. Here sung by two up and coming actors of the day: that sultry Latin, Miss Sophia Loren, and the just plain silly Mr Peter Sellers, duetting on ‘Bangers and Mash’:



And if you’re wondering why the sausages are called bangers, it’s because they ‘pop’ and burst from their skins when being fried – hence the bang!

In order to get me to eat this wonderful concoction, Ma had to resort to letting me play with my food, and good etiquette suddenly became secondary to my gaining weight!

Continued after the jump . . .

What A Concept: Table Manners

Your Head Trucker had the pleasure of eating at the celebrated
Antoine's once in New Orleans, and highly recommends it.

This 1960 educational film is like an archaeological discovery, preserving a memory of the etiquette of fine dining long since swept away, in all but a few places, by fifty years of social changes. Some points will make my truckbuddies smile, no doubt. Mainly it just makes me hungry for some really good food, like that found on the menu. However it strikes you, enjoy.

Table Manners

Do you get into difficulties at the dinner table?  Are your parties ruined by worry, doubt, and confusion?  Do you know how to eat correctly?  Are you positive about that?

Better brush up on the old ettykit before the big feed tomorrow, boys.  You don't want to embarrass Mother and Dad in front of company, do you?



Jeezus Kerr-ist, what a freakin guilt trip.