Medieval Bread Etiquette and Use

The bread for the Lord of the house was fresh, that for guests one day old and that for the rest of the household three days old. Four-day-old bread was reserved for cutting the trenchers… —Three, late-19th century bread forks for serving bread, rolls and toast. 

At medieval banquets bread was served in the form of manchets, which were round loaves of the finest whole wheat, sliced using a tranchoir (from the French trancher, to slice) by a designated carver (q.v. Carving tools and accessories).

The bread for the Lord of the house was fresh, that for guests one day old and that for the rest of the household three days old. Four-day-old bread was reserved for cutting the trenchers, which were pieces of bread sliced approximately 6 inches square and 2-3 inches thick, placed directly on the table and used in lieu of plates. (Later these had an ‘under plate’ of pewter or wood which evolved into the modern dinner plate.)

The bread knife of today is the successor to the tranchoir of the Middle Ages. Along the way, it was Queen Victoria who made it acceptable to put a loaf (of bread) and knife on the dining table. — William P. Hood, Jr. in 1999’s “Tiffany Silver Flatware”

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

A Question of Fork Etiquette

“Excuse me, waiter, but why do well bred Americans permit themselves and their children to use the fork in the right hand? And, if no bread and butter plates are used, where should bread be laid during the meal?”

Watching the Forks

One of the questions that foreigners, especially English-bred people, most frequently ask regarding American manners is this: “Why do well bred Americans permit themselves and their children to use the fork in the right hand?” The fact is that in England, good table etiquette demands that the fork should be kept in the left hand. The knife is used, of course, in the right hand and it is regarded as bad form to shift the fork over to the right hand when the knife is not needed. 

Even in eating desserts the fork is kept in the left hand, frequently being used with a dessert spoon, which is held in the right hand. And children here, unless they are children of Europeans or of parents who affect English manners, are not warned against shifting the fork to the right hand for convenience. However, it is bad form from our point of view, as well as the English, to use the fork shovelwise, scooping up large mouthfuls of vegetables or meat upon it.

Well-bred persons take care how they hold the fork until it becomes second nature to hold it well. Even if the fork is small and your hand is large, avoid placing the handle in the palm of your hand as you would handle a small screw driver, as if your object were to get the best possible grip upon it. Do not hold on too far down the handle, but on the other hand, do not affect the over-dainty manner of holding it uncertainly very far up. 

When you have finished eating leave the fork on the side of the plate, sometimes downward.

When passing a plate for a second helping, place your knife and fork on the side of the plate, blade in or tines downward.

What Readers Ask...

“If no bread and butter plates are used, where should bread be laid during the meal?”

Usually on the plate, but if there is hardly room there is no harm in allowing a roll or fairly dry bread to rest on the table cloth beside the butter-pat.— The Sun, 1921

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

Good Form in Dining of 1894

It is good form to sit erect, to keep the arms off the table, to look pleasant, and to keep room in the mouth for a laugh...

It is good form to break off morsels of bread, toast, biscuits and cake. It is vulgar to bite into a slice. It is good form to train the left hand to use the fork. A gentleman does not lay down his knife and take the fork in his right hand, when the course consists of meat and a salad. 

It is good form to eat slowly and quietly. Only vulgar people are noisy. It is good form to sit erect, to keep the arms off the table, to look pleasant, and to keep room in the mouth for a laugh. People who eat like cattle should be induced to take meals in sheds or vacant lots. Babies and men and women in their “second childhood” can be excused for slobbering at table. – San Jose Herald, 1894

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