How to eat with a spoon. Guide to restaurant etiquette - expert advice

How to eat soup

What good manners are: These are the sounds you don't make when you eat soup.

Bennett Cerf, humorist, publisher

Your image - professional and personal - is made up of the smallest details of behavior at the festive table, including also the way you eat soup. Liquid meals prepared by simmering meat, fish, fruits and/or vegetables with other flavoring ingredients added may be clear or contain small or even large pieces of meat, fish, vegetables or other foods. Soups are served hot or cold, although some might consider the phrase "cold soup" an oxymoron.

Soup plates are placed on a saucer, a plate or on that large dish that is already in front of each guest. The size and shape of the soup plate/bowl is determined by the texture and temperature of the soup, as well as the serving size. Thick soups with large chunks can be served in wide flat bowls, as they themselves retain heat well, but mashed soup is best poured into deep bowls or narrow cups to keep it warm. Broths and consommé are served in small cups with two handles. Soup bowls with lids are used for serving soups that need to be kept very hot. The simplest and most informal soup bowl is the plain deep white bowl with no pattern. French onion soup is usually served in heat-resistant, thick-walled soup bowls.

Soup spoons are larger than teaspoons and deeper. Round soup spoons are commonly used for creamy soups; more versatile oval (sometimes dessert) ones are suitable for almost any soup. The purpose of some silver spoons can only be determined by size: for broth, for cream soup, for gumbo.

How to eat soup

Using the edge of the spoon, scoop some of the soup near the edge of the plate.

The spoon should be no more than three-quarters full, move the spoon away from you to the far edge of the plate.

Drink the contents of the spoon from its side edge. You can tilt the plate away from you to pick up the soup from the bottom. When you're done, put the spoon on your plate. If the soup was served in a cup, the spoon should be placed on the saucer or on the bottom plate.

Etiquette for different types of soups

If you're eating a traditional French onion soup, break open the top crust of melted cheese and toast first and scoop out a chunk of cheese in a spoon. Press the edge of the spoon against the side of the bowl to tear off the cheese, and eat this piece of cheese and bread. Continue eating the soup along with the cheese chunks, biting down on the dangling cheese strands so that they fall into the spoon.

If you are served broth or consommé, you can either use a small spoon or drink from a cup, holding it with one or two hands. You don't need to combine both methods at the same time. If the soup is served with a lid, remove it and place it on the side of your bottom plate. Put it back in place before the bowl is removed from the table.

What to do with crackers

Oyster crackers are placed on the bottom plate to add to the soup as needed. Larger crackers, such as salted ones, should be placed on a pie plate and eaten with fingers, or crumbled into soup. The croutons, which are shared in a common serving bowl, can be poured into the soup using the small serving spoon provided.

Sour cream and other sauces

Using the spoon provided or your clean soup spoon, spoon the sauce into your bowl of soup. If you shared a spoon, put it back on the plate under the gravy boat. You need to add sauces before you are going to start eating.

What Not to Do

Blow on hot soup.

Slurping, making squelching sounds.

Putting too much on a spoon.

Put the whole spoon in your mouth.

Hold bread in one hand and a spoon in the other.

Raise the soup bowl to drink the last drops of soup.

Put the dirty spoon directly on the tablecloth.

Confuse the broth with the soup of the same name, which is prepared from meat and various vegetables in Haiti.

Soup is the heartiest dish of any cuisine. It exudes calm confidence, sadness is forgotten from its aroma, after a tiring day it gives cheerfulness, setting up for a warm conversation, like a tea party or an evening cocktail.

Louis P. de Gouy. "The Big Book of Soups"

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Soup is one of the main traditional dishes in the cuisines of many nations. And few people think that there is also an etiquette for its consumption. What's the right way to eat soup?

The spoon is held so that the thumb rests on top of its handle. Soup is eaten , scooping with a spoon away from you, otherwise you can splatter the suit. You need to scoop up as much liquid as you can bring to your mouth without spilling. Care must be taken to ensure that the soup does not drain from the spoon back into the bowl. The spoon is brought to the mouth with the left wide edge. It is not supposed to cool the soup by stirring with a spoon, it is better to wait until it cools down a bit. Similarly, you can not blow into a plate, cup or spoon.

Soup is eaten quietly, silently; to eat it to the end, it is not forbidden to slightly lift the edge of the plate with your left hand away from you. After finishing eating the soup, the spoon should be left in the bowl. They act in the same way, without finishing the soup to the end. The thick is eaten simultaneously with the liquid. When adding soup to yourself, leave a spoon in a plate.

Broths and puree soups are served in cups (broth makers) with one or two handles. From a cup with one handle, the broth can be drunk like tea, and from a cup with two handles, you should eat with a spoon.

More on the topic:

In a solemn atmosphere, it is important to look decent when eating. The ability to eat soup aesthetically, following the rules prescribed by etiquette, will come in handy at a dinner party or business meeting. All broths, julienne, borscht, even if they look simple, will require a special attitude, knowledge of some nuances.

How to eat soup. General rules

According to etiquette, soups are usually served in a dining room or hall in special porcelain tureens with a ladle. This helps, when serving, not to run around with each plate, but to bring food to everyone at once beautifully and gracefully. According to the etiquette, another plate is placed under each plate to reduce the risk of staining the tablecloth.

A few general rules:

Etiquette obliges to maintain posture. Do not lean low over the dish, hunch over.
The spoon must be gently brought to the mouth, and not reached for it with the lips and the whole body.
Do not blow on a spoon, stir vigorously to cool the dish. There is a risk of getting dirty, splashing a neighbor with splashes and it looks ugly.
According to etiquette, it is unacceptable to sort out small ingredients, trying to catch tastier ones, to put aside “unloved” products. This is insulting to the hostess and spoils the appetite of others.

How to eat soup with a spoon according to etiquette

The spoon is the simplest, which is quite easy to handle. How to use a spoon according to the rules of etiquette and eat carefully:

You need to scoop up enough to be able to swallow everything at once.
Swallowing should be silent.
Bring the spoon to your lips with the side if the soup is liquid and the front edge if thick.
According to etiquette, it is unacceptable to put a spoon on the table. After the meal, the cutlery remains in the plate.
At a reception or a dinner party, it is unacceptable to move the plate away from you after eating. The waiter serving the table will then gently take it away.

What are soups and how to eat them

Soups are divided into filling and transparent. There are several more species that are difficult to attribute to the first or second type. When serving receptions, waiters serve all the necessary devices immediately.

How to eat soup according to etiquette

There are several rules and subtleties:

Soup is poured in a common ladle, which is attached to a porcelain tureen. Usually, according to etiquette, this is done by the hostess or the waiter.
Refueling soups are served in deep bowls placed on shallow dining rooms.
How it is correct according to etiquette to tilt a bowl of soup or not is a moot point. At ceremonial occasions, it is better to leave some liquid at the bottom before the dishes are carried away. For a less formal setting, you can gently tilt the plate away from you.
Hold the spoon properly while eating, holding it between your thumb and forefinger. The device must be carefully immersed in the liquid and scooped up along with the thick.
Eat puree soup and broths with additives correctly according to etiquette, using a dessert spoon, as opposed to dressing types of dishes.
How to eat according to etiquette. Do not bite off a slice on weight. Bread must be put on a special pie plate, and then broken off into small pieces and brought to your mouth with your hands.
According to the strict canons of European etiquette, cutlery should not be released from their hands until the dish is eaten.

hot soups

Acceptable temperature for serving hot soups from 75 degrees. For some, it is perceived as too high, you just need to wait until the dish cools down. Dishes are served in soup bowls, deep plates. With the handle to the left, a bouillon cup is placed on the table if, according to etiquette, a transparent soup should be eaten with a spoon. In other cases, according to the rules of etiquette, we eat the broth, carefully sipping from a special cup like coffee.

Refueling types of dishes are poured into deep plates. Sour cream, finely chopped greens, croutons and other additives are served in a common dish so that the guest can put them to taste.

Borscht, pickles, cabbage soup are often accompanied by donuts, pies, pies. According to etiquette, such additions are placed on the table on the left on a pie plate. By etiquette.

The pot is placed on a small plate or a special stand. So you can originally serve daily cabbage soup, hodgepodge, borscht. If, after serving, the dish needs to be transferred to a soup bowl, the waiter first scoops out the thick, and then fills it with liquid.

Cold soup

Cold species include okroshka, beetroot and other species. Cool vegetable soups are prepared in spring and summer as a way to recharge with vitamins, cool down, and take a break from the heat. How to eat cold types of soup, what are the nuances of etiquette:

Cold fish soup is often served in bouillon cups on a saucer. Separately, pieces of boiled fish are attached. The bones are placed on board a small stand.
Summer soups made from vegetables and other products are often tried to be cooled with pieces of food ice. It must be applied with special forceps.
Utensils used for serving dishes are soup bowls and deep plates.

Puree soups

Usually served in a special cup or broth bowl. If there are 2 handles in the dishes or there are solid additives (crackers, pieces of mushrooms or vegetables, cracklings), always use a spoon.

Sour cream or cream, served separately in a gravy boat, put on your plate to taste and mix with a spoon. With a cup handle to the right on the table, when serving, they hint that this liquid puree soup can be drunk as tea or liquid broth according to etiquette. Crackers, or greens are sometimes served separately. You can put them on your plate if you like.

The rules of etiquette for eating soups are quite simple. The main thing is not to stain yourself or your neighbors and look decent. If the served dish is too exotic, it makes sense to ask the waiter for advice.

It is useful for everyone to know the rules of table etiquette, because the correct handling of cutlery and the ability to behave at the table will always be appreciated by others. In this article, we will look at how to eat soup according to the rules of table etiquette.

The soup is served in a soup bowl or bowl, which is placed on a serving plate. When you have finished with the soup, the spoon must be left in the soup bowl, but not the bowl below it. If the soup is served in a cup, then the spoon should be left on the saucer. In the event that the soup is served hot, do not blow or stir it, wait until it cools down a bit.

We take a spoon with our right hand, place the end part of the handle on the middle finger and cover it with our thumb. We lower the spoon at the edge closest to us and then scoop up the soup, running our hand to the far end of the plate. It is necessary to drink soup from a spoon from the side edge. Rich soups with lots of vegetables and meat can be eaten from the front edge of a spoon. If there is some liquid left in the plate, tilt the plate away from you and scoop with a spoon.

If you feel like eating a slice of bread while you're eating your soup, place a spoon on a serving plate and use the same hand to place a slice of bread in your mouth. Never hold bread in one hand and a spoon in the other hand. Dial in a spoon as much as you feel comfortable eating at a time. Do not bend over or tilt your head towards the plate, bring the spoon to your mouth.

Bouillon

If the broth is served in a cup, it is first eaten with a spoon, then leaving it on the saucer and taking the cup in the right hand like tea, they drink a little of the remaining broth. When serving the broth in a bowl with two handles, it is eaten only with a spoon.

Soup puree

Puree soup or broth with a side dish can also be served in cups, but they are immediately placed with the handle on the left so that you cannot take it with your right hand, so we only eat them with a spoon.

Filling soups

Refueling soups, that is, hodgepodges, pickle, borscht, etc., soups with abundant cuts and meat, are served in deep dinner plates, so we have no choice but to eat them with a spoon.

French onion soup

French onion soup. To get to the soup through the layer of cheese, roll a small amount of cheese around the spoon until it forms a lump. Then press the spoon against the edge of the plate. You can also use a knife and fork to make the cut. Eat the cheese first and then enjoy the soup.

Bouillabaisse (potpourri)

bouillabaisse or potpourri. Since this soup contains a lot of different marine reptiles, we will use various special cutlery (soup spoon, fork for mussels and oysters, tongs for snails and a knife) to eat them. When bouillabaisse is served at the table, there must be a plate for seafood shells on the table.

Soup with croutons (crackers)

Soup with croutons or crackers. There is such a type of crackers as “oyster” (there are no oysters in their composition, they are served mainly with oyster dishes), small round or octagonal crackers 15 mm in diameter, they are served on a serving plate, they are put in portions in the soup, not all at once. Standard-sized crackers are served on a bread plate, on which they remain while eating the soup. You can either take one cracker and eat it with the soup, or crumble a few crackers over the soup (2-3 at a time). Croutons are served or in portions per person, then we treat them the same way as with oyster crackers. But if they were served in a common dish for everyone with a small spoon, then we take a spoon and pour ourselves the necessary portion of croutons directly from the served bowl, the main thing is not to hurt your soup with a common spoon.

By the way, the photo below shows oyster crackers:

We hope that the tips on how to eat soups according to etiquette given in this article were useful to you. Do not forget to share your feedback and tips in the comments to this article, as well as read other reviews on the rules of table etiquette on our website.

How to scoop up soup with a spoon?

Soup puree

Filling soups

Refueling soups, that is, hodgepodges, pickle, borscht, etc., soups with abundant cuts and meat, are served in deep dinner plates, so we have no choice but to eat them with a spoon.