vi a servi ce - Finavia

18 V I A HELSINKI
Peas on
the knife?
Many of us pause for a moment when we find three knives
and three forks beside our plate. What was that etiquette
again? And, where did those rules originate? The etiquette
best known in the west, the rules of good manners, is actual-
ly French, and dictates how you should behave at the dining
table. For example, in western etiquette you show by the po-
sition of your cutlery whether you have finished your course
or would like some more.
French dining etiquette is not universal, though, and
each culture has its own rules. Eating habits and even the
utensils vary from country to country. In the west we de-
pend on the knife and fork, China eats with chopsticks and
Thailand uses a fork and spoon. You use the fork to push
the food onto the spoon and eat from that.
We should be aware that many dislikes and ideas about
food are acquired and culturally based. While fried cock-
roaches may be a huge delicacy in Asia, westerners might
well squirm at the thought. Indians wonder how westerners
can eat a cow, a sacred animal. For Indians, eating the flesh
of a cow is about as weird as eating a pet dog would be to
westerners.