November 2022 | Dinner Etiquette
This story I recalled from my first visit in the US back in 2013. Table manners, or Étiquette.
So, I grew up in a very Lao community where the way we set the table for dinner depended on our food. Usually, if there was no noodle soup, we used a plate, a spoon, and a fork, sometimes opting for a bowl and chopsticks—the Eastern Asian style. However, it surprised me when I was in a more conservative area of the United States, somewhere in Montana; our exchange Asian group student, during a proper dinner meeting, amazed some local Americans, or ‘falang*-Americans,’ with how we ate. We obviously used more than just fork, skillfully maneuvering our two hands with forks and spoons.
Literally, an older lady sitting across came to us and politely asked how we could manage to eat with our hands at the same time… I giggled. Then I realized utensils are used differently in every culture, with forks being more common in most dishes. Not only did they learn from us, but I also learned from them. So beautiful, dinner etiquette.