Foods and home making

not fill the soup spoon full. Eat soup quietly. If soup is served in a cup you may place the spoon on the saucer, lift the cup to your lips, and drink as you would a beverage. The teaspoon is used only for stirring beverages and for tast- ing them to find out whether they are sweet enough or cool enough. A beverage should not be sipped from a spoon. Place the spoon in the saucer, and lift the cup by the handle to your 134 Breakfast lips. (See Figure 44.) A spoon should never be left inside the cup. Do not blow on beverages or soups to cool them Besides using spoons for soup and beverages, spoons are used for eating soft foods, such as cereals and some desserts. For what shall you use the fingers ? Taking a piece of bread from the general serving plate with the fingers has been men- tioned. Firm cake may be taken from a plate with the fingers. Firm or dry cake may eaten also from the fingers, breaking Figure 43. Using a Soup Spoun To eat soup gracefully and quietly (1) move the soup spoon away from you, (2) fill it only partly full, and (3) place the side of the bowl of the spoon to your lips. off a small piece at a time. A fork should be provided for taking soft cake from a plate. Soft cake should also be eaten with a fork. In deciding whether you should eat such foods as sandwiches with the fingers, think of the effect of the foods on your fingers. If you can break foods into pieces with the fingers and keep them reasonably clean, do so. It is not considerate or a pleasing sight to soil the fingers badly and wipe them on the napkin. In eating a dry sandwich from the fingers always break it in two before taking a bite. Always eat club sandwiches with a fork. ! Good Manners at the Dining Table 135 Crackers, nuts, candy, hard cheese, radishes, celery, and arti- chokes are eaten from the fingers. Firm pickles and olives are also eaten from the fingers. Shall food be left on the plate ? It was formerly considered proper to leave some food on the plate at the end of a course or a meal. Perhaps this was to give the impression that one was not greedy. Now we look at this matter more sensibly and Figure 44. Using a Teaspoon If a teaspoon is left in the cup, an accident is likely to occur. Whether a teaspoon is used for a beverage or for a fruit, let it rest, when not in use, on the saucer or plate. think it all right not to leave food on the plate. Good food not only costs money, but requires time and effort to prepare. It is wasteful to leave food on the plate. If we are to leave practically no food on our plates, we should make it a rule not to take more food than we can eat or should eat. Leaving no food on our plates also means that we should learn to like all or almost all foods. When eating at a friend’s home, it is discourteous to the hostess to refuse foods that are set before us. A hostess is gratified to know that the foods she offers are enjoyed by her guests. Breakfast <36