Comparison of Cultural Etiquette between Chinese and Western Catering Drinks

When arranging seats, the basic practices at home and abroad are different. When arranging seats on foreign-related occasions, international practice should generally be observed.

1. Traditional customs in China

When arranging side-by-side seats, China's traditional practice is to "put left first", that is, the position on the left is higher than the position on the right. At present, this method is still widely used for holding meetings and taking official photos in China.

2. International practice

When arranging seats side by side, the international practice is to "put the right side first", which means that the position on the right side is higher than that on the left. It has been widely used in foreign-related occasions.

China people's banquet seating etiquette

China was called "the state of etiquette" in ancient times. The tradition of China people for thousands of years is to stress etiquette, follow etiquette rules, respect etiquette and respect the banquet seating etiquette of China people. If you don't learn manners, you can't stand it. The core of etiquette is people's social behavior norms, which are the social behavior norms, moral standards and various etiquette that China people have become accustomed to. The so-called "courtesy wins the hearts of the people, so it is indisputable"; "There is more than enough food and clothing, and courtesy is reciprocal." Courtesy is the control of personal interests and the dispatch of people's interests. Politeness means humility and concession, and "courtesy" and "concession" are often linked together, which is the origin and explanation of the word "comity".

The earliest ceremony in China is also the most common and important ceremony, which can be said to be a food ceremony. "The ceremony begins with all kinds of food", and food is used to offer sacrifices to the gods. It can be seen that "ceremony" is a very grand thing, and its origin is very early. Rites are based on personal cultural knowledge and spiritual accomplishment. The best occasion to test a person's accomplishment is a group banquet. Therefore, the first lesson of family enlightenment ethics is food etiquette. The basic etiquette and central link of the elaborate catering ceremony at China banquet is the seating ceremony at the banquet-"Seating". In history, Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty, made his fortune because he "sat" at the "heavy guest" banquet ordered by Pei County. At that time, it was still "sitting on the floor" and "sitting at the table", which was the "upper seat" of the banquet, that is, the "seat end". The "sitting on the table" at this banquet varies from time to time because of the historical evolution of basic tableware, several cases and the shape of dining tables and chairs. Before the Han dynasty, "Nanxi faces north, and the west is the top", that is, sitting facing east is the top. The seating of the Hongmen Banquet in Historical Records of Xiang Yu is a norm: "Wang Xiang and Xiang Bo sit in the east, their father sits in the south, and their father is Fan Zeng. Pei Gong sits in the north and Sean sits in the west. This is what Gu said: "The ancients sat in the East. It refers to the seating ceremony of the banquet held in the "room". On the "main hall" located in the center of the front of the main building of the palace, facing south, the most respected is the south, followed by the west and the east again. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the lifestyle began to change from sitting in bed to hanging on high feet. There are all kinds of square and rectangular dining tables, and people's interest in seats has also changed. The square table is represented by the "Square Table", with a side length of 92.5 cm and a height of 87.5 cm. This table is specially designed for distinguished guests. It can serve two, three, four, six or eight people. In addition to the special table, there are more than two people, generally 1: 1. The round table was born under the requirements of a large number of people and many seats. At first, people who used to use the square table were quite uncomfortable, as Yuan Mei said in the poem "Garden": "I don't know who is the chief, but I just feel that sitting can add guests. "

Round table has become a popular dining table style in hotels and restaurants since the middle of Qing Dynasty, and it is also widely used in today's families, especially in catering industry and government canteens. Its seat position generally depends on the orientation and decoration design style of the restaurant or room, or the orientation and sunrise of the door, or the center of gravity and prominent position reflected in the design and decoration style of the hall and room. Usually when the waiter sets the table, the mouth cloth is folded into the shape of flowers and birds, and the first shape will be very eye-catching, so that people can know it at a glance. For grand banquets, seat tags (seat labels) are often placed in front of each table, and the table number of the banquet is indicated on the invitation. In this way, it is not easy to make mistakes, whether it is the master of ceremonies or sitting in the right place according to the picture.

As far as the specific seats of the dining table are concerned, the current norms of Chinese food are: the host sits in the middle of the top, the guest of honor is on the right, the deputy guest of honor is on the left, and the others are arranged from right to left and from top to bottom, as shown in figure 1:

Figure 1 1

2 3 1. The first host 3. A lady or deputy guest of honor.

7 8 2. Guest 4. The second host

9 10 5, 6. Deputy guest of honor 7- 10. Accompany reading, etc.

6 5

four

door

The epidemic patterns in Taiwan Province Province and other provinces and regions are shown in Figures 2 and 3:

Figure 2 (Single Owner)

1

2 3 1. Guest of honor

4 5 2- 1 1. The guests are arranged in turn.

host

6 7

8 9

10 1 1

12

door

Figure 3 (hostess and hostess)

1

3 2 1. Guest of honor

5 4 2- 10. The guests are arranged in turn.

7 6 1 1. hostess

9 8 12. hostess

1 1 10

12

door

The setting of banquet ranking is a convention, so its time and space are quite different. However, according to the current concept in our country, the position should be respected first, then the age should be mentioned, and then the sex (women should be given priority to men) to show the concept of valuing women. Of course, this is the general pattern that will be followed after the chief seat is determined.

The following points should be noted in the arrangement of banquet seats: 1. Take the male and female hosts as the center, the left hand position as the top, and the position close to the male and female hosts as the top; 2. Couples should not be adjacent, men and women should be adjacent in turn, and male and female hosts should be adjacent to guests in turn; The translator can sit on the right of the guest of honor. On some large occasions, you can also arrange meals behind the host and guest. It is our habit to give priority to the direction of service door. ? If it is a round table banquet, if there are hosts, guests and couples present, the host should sit in the middle of the table, with the host and interpreter on his right and the wife and hostess on his left. The second host sits opposite the host. The rest of the hosts and guests sit in turn.

Western-style banquet: There are many kinds of tableware for western-style banquet, each with its own usage and placement. Different foods have different ways to eat. If you can't remember clearly at the moment, you can first observe how others use tableware and eat. If there are several pairs of knives and forks on both sides of the dish, you should use the outermost pair first. After the first course is served, the waiter will remove the dish together with the knife and fork, and then use a second set of knives and forks. If there are several knives, forks and spoons of different sizes, they have different uses. The correct way to use a knife and fork is to hold a fork in your left hand and a knife in your right hand. Hold the food (food to be cut into small pieces) with a fork, cut it with a knife, and then put the food into your mouth with a fork. Eat a piece and cut a piece. When the knife and fork are used together, the fork teeth should face down. You can also put down the knife, cut a small piece and change the right fork to fork the food. If the knife and fork are not used together, the fork teeth should face up. A knife can be used to put food on a fork, but you can't send food to your mouth with a knife. When using a knife and fork, you can't make noise with plates and soup plates. When a dish is not finished, the knife and fork should be placed on the edge of the dish in a figure of eight with the fork teeth facing down. After eating, put the knife and fork together on the plate, and the waiter will know that you can leave. Note: The blade should not face outward. ? A larger napkin can be folded in half. Put your mouth on your knees and don't tie it around your neck. You can wipe your mouth and hands with a corner of your napkin, but you must never use it to wipe the dishes. ? Serve from the left and withdraw from the right after eating. But pour the wine from the right. If you can't figure this out, you may misuse your neighbor's drinks and food. At the beginning of the banquet, the hostess picked up a knife and fork, indicating that all the guests could eat. As long as there is food to eat in the future, you can eat it without waiting. Eat and drink water gently, chew food quietly, and don't make any noise. Don't talk with your mouth full. Spitting bones, fishbones, etc. Then put them on the edge of the plate. You can't spit directly on the plate or tablecloth. It's best to use tableware to remove bones and thorns first, so as not to enter. Don't refuse a dish you don't like. You can order less and taste a little until the waiter leaves. Don't stand up to get food or feed. When drinking a drink, first wipe off the oil stains on your lips with a corner of your napkin to avoid leaving oil stains on the mouth of the cup. The spoon you use when drinking soup should be the biggest one in front of your seat. The small one may be a dessert spoon. When drinking soup, scoop it up and send it to your mouth. Don't sip loudly. If the soup is too hot, you can scoop a spoonful and blow it to cool before drinking. In case you can't swallow it, take a sip of cold water or drink it quickly. When scooping soup, the spoon should enter from the near side of the soup plate and scoop it from the far side. When it can't be scooped up, you can tilt the plate slightly outward with your left hand. ?

Don't move the used plates. Put the glass back after drinking every time. If spilled wine spills on neighbors, say "I'm sorry" and help dry it, or call a waiter to clean it up. If the neighbor is a lady, just hand in a clean napkin or handkerchief and dry it yourself. If you find something dirty in the dish, you can call the waiter quietly and ask him to change it again. Don't disturb four seats. If you don't want to add more wine, you can refuse it, or you can gently block the rim of the cup with your finger. If the host entertains guests in a restaurant, ask them to order. Any food ordered by a guest should be explained to the host, not directly to the waiter. The water for washing fingers is usually in a glass basin, some have several petals, and some have cushions at the bottom. Don't mistake it for drinking water. ?

Eat loose food such as salad, you can eat it with a fork, and the fork teeth are up. You can also use a small piece of bread to help push the salad onto the fork. All kinds of dried fruits, biscuits, dry snacks, potato chips, lobster slices, etc. You can eat it by hand. Noodles can be rolled up with a fork, not picked with a fork. Pick up the bread by hand and put it on your own shallow plate or the edge of a big plate. Replace your knife with a butter knife, take a small piece of butter or jam, put it in your saucer, break off a small piece of edible bread with your hands, coat it with butter or jam, wipe it clean and eat it. You can't cut bread with a knife. If the bread is sliced, you can't butter the whole piece of bread and send it to your mouth. You should also break it into small pieces to eat. ?

How to eat the fruit: cut the pear and apple into four pieces, peel and remove the core, and eat a small piece with your hands. Peel the banana, cut it into small pieces on the plate and eat it with a fork. You can't take the peeled banana in your hand and send it to your mouth to bite. Cut the orange into four pieces and eat it without skin. Watermelon and pineapple are usually peeled and cut into pieces and sent to the table, which can be eaten with a fork. When eating grapes, spit them in your hand and put them on a plate. When peeling fruit, the blade is cut inward, from outside to inside. ?

For tea or coffee, if you need to add sugar and milk, you can bring it yourself or ask someone to pass it, but don't stand up and get it. There is a special clip for taking sugar cubes. If there is no clip, you can use your hands. Don't use a spoon. Spoons are used to stir sugar or milk and then put them in a small dish. When drinking, hold the dish in your left hand, hold the cup handle in your right hand and pick up the cup to drink. You can't spoon it like soup. ?

Never put your elbow on the table at any time. ?

At present, Chinese food is generally divided by waiters. If you take food from the big plate again, you should use public chopsticks instead of your own tableware. After eating, chopsticks should be placed flat on the table, not on the food in the bowl or plate. Last but not least, you shouldn't pick your teeth at the dinner table.

Western etiquette

1, sit on the left side of the chair. The most suitable sitting position is sitting on the left. When the chair is opened, the body will stand up straight at a distance that almost touches the table. The leader pushes the chair in, and the legs bend and touch the chair behind, so you can sit down. When sitting, keep your body straight, don't put your elbows on the table, don't tilt your feet, and don't mess with the tableware on the table. Open the napkin after ordering. Fold the napkin in half and gently put it on your knee. Napkins can be used to wipe your mouth or hands, but not to wipe your plate or face. When your mouth is dirty, you must wipe it with a napkin and avoid using your own handkerchief. It's best not to stuff napkins into the neckline. It's polite to wipe the inside of food instead of soiling the front. Wipe your fingers with a napkin after washing them. If the napkin is badly dirty, please ask the waiter to change it. When you have to spit out bad food, don't spit it on the plate. It's best to throw up on a napkin and ask for a new tablecloth when others are not looking. Appetizers, main courses (fish or meat) and desserts are the most suitable combinations. Ordering doesn't start with appetizers, but with the favorite main course, and then the soup suitable for the main course.

2. When eating, the upper arm and back should lean on the back of the chair, and the abdomen should keep a fist distance from the table. Sitting with your feet crossed is best avoided. Remember to eat with your head up. When you put the food in front of you in your mouth, you should eat it with the food instead of bending down and eating it with your mouth. In the set meal of formal western food, knives and forks with different shapes are often used according to the characteristics of different cuisines, and not all of them are displayed at the beginning. When it comes to the whole set, it is easy to think of the silverware on the dining table, but now ordering 2-3 dishes is mostly mainstream. When eating with a knife and fork, the knife and fork and spoon are arranged in the order of use. The first one is placed on the outside farthest from the main course, and the second one is placed near the inside of the main course. If the main course is served before the salad, the fork of the main course should be placed on the outside of the salad fork, and the knife and fork should be taken from the outside to the inside. When eating western food, the fork should be held in the left hand and the knife in the right hand. The left index finger clings to the fork handle, and the right index finger presses on the back of the knife. The spoon can be held with a pen. When cutting things, hold the fork in your left hand to hold the food, cut the food into small pieces with a knife in your right hand, and send it to your mouth with a fork. When using a knife, the blade should not be outward. When eating, put down the knife and fork, and divide them into eight shapes. The blade is pointed at yourself, indicating that you will continue to eat. After eating each dish, put the knife and fork together on the plate. If you are talking, you can hold the knife and fork. When you don't use a knife, you can hold a fork in your right hand, but if you need to gesture, you should put down your knife and fork, never wave it in the air with your hands, never wipe your mouth with a napkin in one hand, and never hold a glass with a fork in the other. Remember, never put one end of the knife and fork on the plate and the other end on the table.

Don't sip soup, but shut up and chew when eating. Don't lick your lips or smack your lips. If the soup is overheated, don't eat it until it is slightly cold. Don't blow it with your mouth. When you drink soup, scoop it out with a spoon. When the soup in the soup plate is almost finished, tilt the outside of the soup plate slightly with your left hand and scoop it out with a spoon. After eating the soup, leave the spoon in the soup plate (bowl) and aim the spoon at yourself.

4. When eating fish, meat and other dishes with thorns or bones, don't spit them out directly. You can spit it gently on the fork with a napkin and put it on the plate. Leftover chicken, fish bones and dregs are placed on the outer edge of your plate, not on the table, let alone on the ground. If there is a small amount of food left on the plate, don't scrape the bottom of the plate with a fork, let alone help you eat with your fingers, but help you eat with a small piece of bread or fork. When eating noodles, roll them up with a fork and send them to your mouth.

5, bread is generally broken into small pieces and sent to the mouth, do not bite the whole piece of bread. When spreading butter and jam, break the bread into small pieces before spreading it.

6. When eating chicken, most Europeans and Americans regard chicken breast as the most expensive. When eating chicken legs, you should first remove the bones by force, not by hand. When eating fish, don't turn it over. After eating the upper layer, remove the fishbone with a knife and fork, and then eat the meat of the lower layer. When eating meat, cut a piece and eat a piece. Don't cut the pieces too big, or cut all the meat into pieces at once.

7. If you are willing to add milk or sugar when drinking coffee, stir it evenly with a small spoon and put the small spoon on the saucer of coffee. When drinking, hold the cup handle in your right hand, put the saucer in your left hand, and drink directly with your mouth, not with a spoon. Don't bite the whole fruit when eating it. Cut it into four pieces with a fruit knife, and then remove the skin and core with a knife and fork.

8. Eat meat with bones with a knife and fork. When eating meat with bones, you can grab it with your hands. If you want to eat more elegantly, you'd better use a knife. Fix the whole meat with a fork (you can stand the fork upright and press the meat with the back of the fork), then insert a knife along the bone and cut the meat. It is best to eat while cutting. When you have to eat with your hands, hand washing water will be attached. When hand washing water is served with meat with bones, it means "Please eat with your hands". After eating with your fingers, wash your fingers in a bowl filled with hand washing water. When eating ordinary dishes, if your fingers are dirty, you can also ask the waiter to bring hand washing water, and pay attention to washing your hands gently.

9. When ordering steak, the waiter will first ask about the degree of barbecue, and then serve it according to your favorite cooking method.

When eating, fork the meat from the left and then cut it along the right side of the fork with a knife. If the cut meat can't be eaten in one bite, you can directly cut it into smaller pieces with a knife, cut the meat into just one bite, and then send it directly to the population with a fork. You should eat from left to right. You should also eat all the side dishes. The vegetables placed next to the steak are not only for decoration, but also for balanced nutrition. Most people in China leave watercress behind. If they don't really like it, they'd better not leave.

10, have a bite of bread. It is polite for a chef to soak bread in the sauce until there is no sauce left. Be careful not to lick the bread plate clean and don't use forked bread.

1 1. When you have to leave halfway, you'd better say hello to the people at the same table when serving, and put the napkin on the chair before leaving, so as not to disturb the whole dining procedure and atmosphere. After eating, just put the napkin on the dining table at will, and you don't have to fold it neatly.

12. The waiter will always pay attention to the needs of the guests. If you need service, you can look at him or raise your hand slightly, and the waiter will come right away. When you drop something, you'd better ask the waiter to pick it up for you. If you are satisfied with the service and want to tip, you can pay by debit card, that is, write down the total amount including tip on the bill and then sign it. Finally, don't forget to thank you verbally!