Table Manners of Olden Eras

A 1920’s depiction of a 15th C. spatulate Pea Knife,  alongside an ancient fork and later style knife with a rounded blade. – The knife and fork combination utensil on left, and the spatulate knife, at right, some say are lacking the beauty of the modern knife of sterling with which they are compared.

Table Manners of Yesterday Bring Chuckles to Club Women

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Mrs. Norman Hutt Imparts Ancient “Tips on Etiquette” for Comparison

Fifteenth century guests at the dinner table of a “person of quality” kept themselves uncovered until the “person of quality” put on his hat, according to one of the ancient rules of etiquette translated from Old English by Mrs. Norman Hutt yesterday for the Sherman Oaks Woman's Club.

Mrs. Hutt, in turning back the pages of history to early eras related many interesting and amusing facts on table manners and menus for her listeners. 

She described the cave man’s table, the old Roman table and the 15th century table, observing the changes of modes and some of the fundamentals which are incorporated in present-day ways of living.

An old French book on etiquette to which Mrs. Hutt referred, admonished dinner guests “not to dip fingers in sauce or lick when having don, nor to gnaw bones and sprawl upon the floor.” 

Another suggestion was to “place hat or napkin in front of face” if a guest was forced to cough while at the table. And always to “put the knife out of harm's way” when finished using it.

A quaint verse which the audience enjoyed for its unique usage and spelling was this one:

“Pyke not thy teeth at the tabylle syttynge 

Nor useth thy mete over much spytynge,

Ley not thy elbows nor thy fyst 

Upon the tabylle whist thou etist: 

*Bulk not as a bean were yn thy throte.”

 

*Bulk is the old word for hiccup and the late word, burp.

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

 

Knife Etiquette is Contrary to Mission

“I have seen, I say, the Hereditary Princess of Potzausend - Donnerwetter (that serenely beautiful woman), use her knife in lieu of a fork or spoon; I have seen her almost swallow it, by Jove! Like Ramon Samee, the Indian juggler. And I did not blench. Did my estimation of the Princess diminish? No, lovely Amelia! It is not snobbish of persons of rank or of any other nation to employ their knives in the manner alluded to.” 

The Table Knife’s Mission... 

or 

First Aid to Hungry Men

After recounting his sad estrangement from Mrs. Marrowfat, following the “atrocious’’ consumption of a dish of peas with his knife, the great historian of the snobs goes on to explain as follows, that snobbery is a purely relative thing that, in short, what is beastly bad manners in a mere English gentleman is quite proper, not to say commendable, in persons of rank and riches, particularly of other nationalities: 

“I have seen, I say, the Hereditary Princess of Potzausend - Donnerwetter (that serenely beautiful woman), use her knife in lieu of a fork or spoon; I have seen her almost swallow it, by Jove! Like Ramon Samee, the Indian juggler. And I did not blench. Did my estimation of the Princess diminish? No, lovely Amelia! It is not snobbish of persons of rank or of any other nation to employ their knives in the manner alluded to.” 

The recalling of this dramatic episode in the history of table manners is suggested by the crusade started by a metropolitan paper of the Effete East in favor of a return to knife-eating. The practice is, it declares, harmless; shows personal bravery and steadiness of hand; gives the onlooker a saluibrious thrill, and offends no one but the “social purist.” Wherefore, then, should it be condemned; and banished from the table of the well-to-do? 

Obviously there is no reason for the rule now, but custom and habit born of an empiric mandate laid down by some past archon of the table. It may have arisen in days when but one knife was provided for each diner, and this was dipped, as occasion demanded, in the single butter plate at the center of the table. Under such conditions, there was something to be said from a sanitary point of view against using one’s knife as a shovel. 

But nowadays, when a separate set of tools is provided for every particular gustatory operation; when the soup, fish, meats, vegetables, salads, pie, and other edibles are ladled, spitted and anatomized by a case of instruments almost as varied and numerous as those used by a surgeon in short, the tools of individual feeding not only never touch the food consumed by others, but are carefully kept from contact with the preceding and succeeding courses, the taboo on knife eating seems absurd. It appears to us that individual preference and convenience should be allowed to determine the question. 

Persons dexterous enough safely to eat with their knives and finding this method of loading more expeditious than that prescribed by custom, should be at liberty to do so without any implication of vulgarity or ill-breeding. The question is one of expedience and convenience—nothing more. Most of us have seen knife eating in all its unique processes in the restaurants about town, and while most of us have always tried to adhere to the correct table manners our mothers so carefully taught us, really it is a source of no little interest and amusement to watch some industrious individual at the other table over yonder shamelessly working away with his knife, while the fork rests idly in the other hand. However, let that individual always be seen over yonder at the other table.— Sacramento Union, 1908

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

Dining Etiquette in Legal Decision

His claim was defeated on the ground that it was a breach of etiquette for him to eat with a knife. 

Taught Him a Lesson

 

Etiquette is responsible for a queer legal decision. A traveler on a German railway train attempted to eat a lunch, and while in the act of conveying food to his mouth, the train stopped suddenly and his cheek was badly cut on the edge of the knife he was using. The man sued the company for damages, but his claim was defeated on the ground that it was a breach of etiquette for him to eat with a knife. The court recited unto him the chestnut that, “A man cannot take advantage of his own wrong.” —Chicago Times, 1892

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