Etiquette and Dining Intimacy

“Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.” - M.F.K. Fisher – (Above) Jacqueline Kennedy smoking at dinner. – Mrs. Kennedy understood that State Dinner guests at the White House needed more of a feeling of intimacy, so she changed the tables from the traditional, long tables at which everyone sat, to round tables. She felt people could get to know those they were dining with, if each group was dining at a smaller, round table. And at those State Dinners, smoking at meals was so commonplace, the Sunset "Host and Hostess" book on entertaining cautioned that for a properly set dining table, each place setting needed an ashtray, no less than 3 cigarettes, and matches or a lighter. It wasn't until the Clinton administration that smoking was banned in the White House at the dining tables.

“I feel now that gastronomical perfection can be reached in these combinations: one person dining alone, usually upon a couch or a hill side; two people, of no matter what sex or age, dining in a good restaurant; six people, of no matter what sex or age, dining in a good home. Dining partners, regardless of gender, social standing, or the years they've lived, should be chosen for their ability to eat - and drink! - with the right mixture of abandon and restraint. They should enjoy food, and look upon its preparation and its degustation as one of the human arts.”―from M.F.K. Fisher's, Serve It Forth

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia