Full course description
Proper Table Manners & Dining Etiquette
It’s important to make a good impression at mealtime, and your table manners can say a lot about your sense of personal style.
Etiquette is defined as the rules for socially acceptable behavior.
A 17th century French dictionary gave its meaning as a small sign, label, or ticket. “Etiquettes” were placed around the palaces and gardens, instructing fine guests where to walk, where to stand, what not to touch – essentially telling them how to behave!
We have adapted this word from the French to refer to our manners and the proper way we conduct ourselves socially. There is dining etiquette, telephone etiquette, even golf and surfing etiquette!
Etiquette isn’t new. It may have begun with a behavior code by Ptahhotep, in Egypt’s reign of the Fifth Dynasty King Djedkare Isesi (ca. 2412 – 2375 BC).
Ancient Greece and Rome, developed rules for proper social conduct. Confucius included rules for eating and speaking with his philosophy.
The behavior that identifies a “gentleman” was codified in the sixteenth century, in a book by Baldassare Castiglione,Il Cortegiano (“The Courtier”); and remained essentially in force until World War I.