Etiquette for Bon-Bons at Dinner

According to cooking expert, Miss Louise Lane, “Candy is just as important in the formal dinner as the appetizers or dessert.”

IMPORTANT AT DINNER TABLE

Small Bon Bon Dishes of Fresh Sweets Always Are Welcomed by Guests

Candy is just as important in the formal dinner as the appetizers or dessert…

That candy has a definite place in the menu is borne out by Miss Louise Lane, cooking expert, who declares that it adds not only to the taste appeal of the balanced meal, but, if properly selected, to the appearance of the table as well.

1932 advertisement for “Martha Washington Candies”

Many women are puzzled as to the right moment to put the candy on the table. This is mere a matter of choice, authorities on table etiquette disagreeing on this point. Some say that candy has a place on the table right from the beginning of the meal and that a small bon-bon dish at either end of the table may be considered a correct part of the table setting. Others insist that the candy dishes make their entrance after the table has been cleared of the main course and the dessert is being served.

Miss Lane has chosen Martha Washington candies for her demonstration during the “Kitchen Chautauqua” this week. She says: “Few persons recognize the importance of the word FRESH in regard to candy. For 35 years the Martha Washington Candies Company, has pursued the policy of treating candy as a perishable article, demanding pure butter, fresh cream and eggs and other ingredients, and no preservatives. This company's slogan has been, “The Candy that's made to eat, not to keep.” Because of its freshness I have selected it for my “Happy Kitchen.” – Oakland Tribune, 1932

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

Candy Etiquette

So if somebody opens a box of candy in your presence and passes it to you, you naturally take but one piece. If the possessor of the candy places it open on a table and says help yourself, you help yourself very charily.

THERE is really a very nicely balanced table of etiquette concerning candy. Of course, the keynote of it is not to be greedy and not to be selfish— that is, not to be greedy if the candy belongs to somebody else, and not to be selfish if it is yours.

That’s the whole case in a nutshell. So if somebody opens a box of candy in your presence and passes it to you, you naturally take but one piece. If the possessor of the candy places it open on a table and says help yourself, you help yourself very charily. One or two pieces more are all that you really would take without further invitation. For you to eat half the contents of the box, as some persons do, would be the height of rudeness.

And, on the other side of the question, if you have a box of candy you should generously open it and pass it to your guests. Candy is a passing joy, anyway, and if you keep the box unopened and eat it all yourself, you will quite likely suffer a headache for your selfish indiscretion.

If a young man brings a young woman a box of candy when he calls on her, it is customary for her to open it immediately, and pass it to him, and to anybody else who may be in the room. — By Mary Marshall Duffee, by McClure Newspaper Syndicate, –1922

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