Emily Post on Seeds and More

Remove all the seeds that you can with the fruit knife and fork, before lifting a piece to the mouth, and any seeds left in the fruit are removed between thumb and finger, or dropped into the cupped hand. They are in either case dried as completely as possible with tongue and between lips. 

My dear Mrs. Post: 

(1) How does one remove watermelon seeds from the mouth at table? 

(2) A friend told me that tablespoons are not the real serving spoons. I have always used them as such, which must be wrong. 

(3) is it ever all right to eat peas with a spoon, in ease, or must they be juggled with a fork? 

(4) Are little side dishes always taboo? 

(5) In a restaurant, when foods are sometimes served in separate dishes, is it correct to eat them directly from the serving dish or should all food be put from there over on the dinner plate?

Answer: 

(1) Remove all that you can with the fruit knife and fork, before lifting a piece to the mouth, and any seeds left in the fruit are removed between thumb and finger, or dropped into the cupped hand. They are in either case dried as completely as possible with tongue and between lips. 

(2) There are slightly larger spoons used for serving, but tablespoons answer perfectly. 

(3) Spoon absolutely taboo. Mash them slightly with the fork, if you must. But I can't see that there is any difficulty ever. 

(4) Correctly, yes. 

(5) You should put them on your plate, but there is no rule because conventionally side dishes are not used. - by Emily Post.-WNU Service, 1934

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

Watermelon Etiquette

Perhaps Emily would have pointed out that there are melon forks (fork/knife combinations) and melon spoons (spoon/fork combinations) which were designed specifically for dealing with the seeds of these seasonal delicacies. – Pictured above are antique melon spoons by The Holmes & Edwards Silver Co.

 

A PROBLEM THAT SUMMER BRINGS US

Now that the watermelon season is here again, one is reminded that we never learned Mrs. Emily Post’s rules of watermelon etiquette. Should we use a spoon, fork, or knife and fork? Some prefer to eat over the kitchen sink, a handy receptacle for all seeds; probably not correct etiquette? And then again, what is the right procedure for gathering up the elusive seeds which manage to slip out and around on the linoleum? After all, the handiest way is to take it on a picnic.—From Ceres Courier, 1933

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

Etiquette of Gloves and Napkin

Etiquipedia agrees with Emily Post on this matter!  — “Ladies always wear gloves to formal dinners and take them off at table. Entirely off. It is hideous to leave them on the arm, merely turning back the hands.”

Ladies always wear gloves to formal dinners and take them off at table. Entirely off. It is hideous to leave them on the arm, merely turning back the hands. Both gloves and fan are supposed to be laid across the lap, and one is supposed to lay the napkin folded once in half across the lap too, on top of the gloves and fan, and all three are supposed to stay in place on a slippery satin skirt on a little lap, that more often than not slants downward.

It is all very well for etiquette to say "They stay there," but every woman knows they don't! And this is quite a nice question: If you obey etiquette and lay the napkin on top of the fan and gloves loosely across your satin-covered knees, it will depend merely upon the heaviness and position of the fan's handle, whether the avalanche starts right, left or forward, onto the floor. 

There is just one way to keep these four articles (including the lap as one) from disintegrating, which is to put the napkin cornerwise across your knees and tuck the two side corners under like a lap robe, with the gloves and the fan tied in place as it were. This ought not to be put in a book of etiquette, which should say you must do nothing of the kind, but it is either do that or have the gentleman next you groping under the table at the end of the meal; and it is impossible to imagine that etiquette should wish to conserve the picture of "gentlemen on all fours" as the concluding ceremonial at dinners. — From Emily Post in “Etiquette,” 1922

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Good Taste from Emily Post, Pt 1

Five things you probably didn’t know about Emily Post

Good Taste Today 

Part 1

Dear Mrs. Post: If the host carves and there is no maid at all, how should the vegetables and potatoes be served? Is it bad form to pass serving dishes from one to the other around the table.

Answer: If you help yourself there is, of course, the advantage of taking as much, or as little, as you want. However, there is also the question of hot serving dishes which, in fingers sensitive to heat, have been known to bo dropped! Even if the host serves the vegetables and potatoes as well as the roast, the plates can be filled according to each one's direction, such as: "May I have a rare slice of meat and just one potato, please?" This plan seems to me the simplest. But the only answer is to do what seems to you most practical. 

Dear Miss. Post: I went to a dinner some time ago where there was a guest of honor. After I had found my place at table I sat down, as I always have done. But much to my embarrassment the other ladies stood at their places and waited until the hostess asked them to be seated. I must admit that it took me several courses to regain my composure. The ancient advice of "When in Rome . . ." did not help in this situation, as I had never dined with this particular group of people. They must have thought me extremely rude, and perhaps I was, but I had never run into this display of politeness to the guest of honor. Will you write something about it? 

Answer: As you have said, many communities have customs of their own. Personally I have never heard of this procedure except in boarding schools. According to conventional usage every lady sits down as soon as she is told where to sit, or as soon as she finds her place card. The gentlemen stand at their places until the ladies are seated. In other words, what you did was (according to etiquette) entirely right. – By Emily Post in the San Bernardino Sun, 1939                

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