Table manners

Actually, since we did not have enough time to make each countries’ foods, we just made a decision to set up fake foods of each countries.



At first, we talked about Korea table manner and settings. Actually, Korean almost eats a kind of soup with rice. So, Korean soup was supposed to be right side of rice in this picture. In Korea, we MUST put rice on left side of soup and put soup on right side of rice. In addition, a spoon should be located on the most right side. Moreover, big soup (called “JJigae”) should be put on the center of table. That means we share the food with families or friends who eat together. So, we do not use individual dishes expect for soup located nearby rice. That is big different food culture from other countries. Another interest thing is that we cannot eat before the oldest person start to eat. Of course this custom seems very strict. So, nowadays we do not consider the custom in families. However, if I have very formal and important dinner such as meeting of my girlfriend’s parent, I MUST do that. We also rarely use tables and chairs while we eat which means we sit down on floor and use only table to have short legs in a house. We also think this behavior to make some noise while we eat as rude behavior. However, when we eat noodles, we do not care about noise. And we do not care dress when we eat something in a house but when we go to luxury restaurant, we almost dress up, however this is not force.






Another country is Chile. In Chile, Chilean never shares food. They use individual dishes except for traditional food which is a kind of salad with a big mud bowl. It is very interesting that they should put their left hand (if someone use left hand, he/she should put right hand) on the table. If someone do not the behavior, people think strange. They usually have a lot of talking time after their meal. This is called “Sobremesa” This is quite different from Korea because we usually finish meal within 30~1 hour and then go to each destination. Chilean thinks that making noise is very rude while they eat including noodles. In addition, if they go to restaurant, they should dress up without exception. Sometimes, they cannot go inside unless they dress up formally.






The last country is USA. Table manners and settings of USA are almost similar to Chile. Making noise while they eat is forbidden including noodles and soups. Sometimes, they have strict table manners when they go to very luxury and formal restaurant. So, each spoon and fork should be used with proper foods. That makes me so confused. Some Americans even do not know how to use properly. In America, they also should dress up when they go to restaurant, however sometimes it depends on restaurant to dress up formally. They used to dress up formally even when they have meal in their house very long years ago.




I think food manners are almost decided by location because food settings and manners are very similar between Korea, Japan, and China. America’s food manner is also similar Canada and Mexico which is adjacent to USA.