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Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which the utensils and ornaments are positioned. The practice of dictating the precise arrangement of tableware has varied across cultures and historical periods.
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Transcription
Have you ever helped set a table and found yourself wondering where to place the forks? Or sat down to eat a restaurant and wondered which utensils to use? Well, here's some simple, traditional etiquette tips on how to set a table. What would happen if you set a table like this? It doesn't look good, and you have to clean up the mess before you can even start. Let's try another way. To start, use a placemat or tablecloth, but not both, so the dishes aren't directly on the table. This is more about looks than etiquette, but it's rare to see nothing under a plate unless you're eating at a picnic table. Set out any flowers, candlesticks, or other decorations you like. Candles are usually only lit at night. Start with utensils for the main course, putting your dinner fork on the left and your dinner knife on the right-hand side since these are the hands we use them with. Here's a helpful tip: You always eat outside-in, so to set for salad, we'll put the salad fork to the outside of the dinner fork and the salad knife to the outside of the dinner knife. We'll have salad first, then our main course. Notice, too, that the knife blades are both pointed toward the plate. This is an old tradition from a time when dinner knives were quite sharp, and it was a sign of politeness and nonaggression to keep them pointed away from other diners. We might have some soup, and since soup usually comes first, the soup spoon goes outside the knives since we use our right hand to hold it. Here's another tip: Only set the table with what you'll need. If you're not eating soup, don't set a soup spoon. Now, for dessert, we'll have ice cream so we'll place the dessert up top since we don't need it for a little while. Notice that the bowl of the spool is pointing to the left. This way, when it's time to eat, you just slide it down and it's in the right spot. If you were having cake, you'd set a fork and flip it 180 degrees so it would be right side-up on the left instead. Next we'll anchor our setting with the plate. You can also serve from the kitchen then bring them to the table. The bread plate goes up and to the left of the setting, and the butter knife goes on the plate at an angle, again, with the blade pointing in. There's only one spot left, and that's for the drinks. Set the wine glass to the upper right, and then place the water glass to the left of it at an angle. If you're like me and can never remember which goes where, think water, wine, w-a, w-i; a, i; they go left to right in alphabetical order. Another tip: To remember left and right with the bread and the drinks, think B-M-W like the car. B, your bread plate, is on the left; M, your meal, is in the middle, and W, your water, is on the right. Lastly, the napkin traditionally goes to the left of the forks, though it's okay to put it underneath them, too. For a fancier meal like this one that takes up a lot of space, we'll put it in the middle. Now we're ready to eat. Hopefully these tips will be helpful the next time you're asked to help set the table or sit down at a fancy meal. Enjoy!
Place setting
Informal settings generally have fewer utensils and dishes but use a layout based on more formal settings. Utensils are arranged in the order and according to the manner in which the diner will use them. In the West, forks, plate, butter knife, and napkin generally are placed to the left of the dinner plate, and knives, spoons, stemware and tumblers, cups, and saucers to the right. (By contrast, formal settings in Armenia place the fork to the right of the dinner plate and informal settings in Turkey place the fork to the right of the dinner plate if not accompanied by a knife) Sauceboats and serving dishes, when used, either are placed on the table or, more formally, may be kept on a side table.
Informal
At an informal setting, fewer utensils are used and serving dishes are placed on the table. Sometimes the cup and saucer are placed on the right side of the spoon, about 30 cm or 12 inches from the edge of the table. Often, in less formal settings, the napkin should be in the wine glass. However, such objects as napkin rings are very rare in the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, or Italy.
Formal
Utensils are placed inward about 20 cm or 8 inches from the edge of the table, with all placed either upon the same invisible baseline or upon the same invisible median line. Utensils in the outermost position are to be used first (for example, a soup spoon or a salad fork, later the dinner fork and the dinner knife). The blades of the knives are turned toward the plate. Glasses are placed an inch (2.5 cm) or so above the knives, also in the order of use: white wine, red wine, dessert wine, and water tumbler.
Formal dinner
The most formal dinner is served from the kitchen. When the meal is served, in addition to the central plate (a service plate or dinner plate at supper; at luncheon, a service plate or luncheon plate) at each place there are a bread roll (generally on a bread plate, sometimes in the napkin), napkin, and flatware (knives and spoons to the right of the central plate, and forks to the left). Coffee is served in Butler Service style in demitasses, and a spoon placed on the saucer to the right of each handle. Serving dishes and utensils are not placed on the table for a formal dinner.[1] The only exception in the West to these general rules is the protocol followed at the Spanish royal court, which was also adopted by the Austrian court, in which all cutlery was placed to the right of the central plate for each diner.
At a less formal dinner, not served from the kitchen, the dessert fork and spoon can be set above the plate, fork pointing right, spoon pointing left.[2]
Formal dining
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Formal place setting for 8-course dinner
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Appetizer course
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Soup course
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Fish course
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Entrée course
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Palate cleanser
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Main (relevé) course
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Salad course
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Fingerbowl before dessert
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Dessert place setting before dessert
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Dessert course
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Coffee/tea course
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Tea service
See also
- Centrepiece
- Cutlery (US: Flatware)
- Haft-Sin, traditional table setting of Nowruz, the traditional Iranian spring celebration.
- List of glassware
- Napkin folding
- Silver service, a method of table service in the United Kingdom
- Tableware
References
- ^ Vanderbilt, Amy (1958). Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette: a Guide to Gracious Living. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. pp. 346–347.
- ^ Post, Peggy (1997). Emily Post's Etiquitte 75th Anniversary Edition. Table Settings: Harper-Collins. pp. 433. ISBN 006270078-2.
Further reading
- Von Drachenfels, Suzanne (2000). The Art of the Table: A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84732-9.
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This page was last edited on 1 July 2023, at 09:10