When the table appears on the occasion of important events, great importance for the etiquette takes on the order of cutlery: knives, forks, spoons and teaspoons all have their own specific place, as well as glasses, plates, napkins and any other complement that must be used in this situation.
Cutlery on the table: how do you look?
Appearing the table correctly is not very complicated: the forks should be placed to the left of the dish, with the tines facing upwards, while on the right we find first the knives, with the blade facing inwards, followed by the fish knives and the spoons (these with the convex part placed on the table). Obviously, if there are no soups or seafood dishes, these last two types of cutlery must be eliminated.
On the other hand, dessert cutlery is always present, which should be placed at the top, between plates and glasses with handles facing the hand that will use them: in the case of knife and spoon these should be turned to the right, the fork, instead, to the left.
Cutlery: etiquette while eating
The etiquette at the table also imposes rules regarding the use of cutlery while eating: if you want to take a break, for example to drink a glass of water, these should absolutely not, as many believe, be placed at the sides with the tip on the plate and handles on the tablecloth. Although this is a very common practice, it is considered disrespectful of the label, as this position allows any sauces and seasonings to flow onto the tablecloth or cutlery itself (risking even the risk of getting your hands dirty). Instead, it is necessary to place them on the plate itself with a position that recalls the 20 and 20 of the watch: similarly, when the flow rate is completed, the knife and fork must be placed parallel to each other, in the direction of 6 and 30.
Each dish has its own cutlery: you start with those for starters, usually smaller, which are located outside, and then go inwards. Only a few have special uses, such as the three-tine fork or the fish knife, which are used exclusively to eat these foods. Everything must be eaten with cutlery, few are the exceptions that the etiquette imposes: just some fruit, like grapes, while for everything else they are obligatory fork and knife or spoon.
Dishes and glasses: Appear according to the etiquette
For the etiquette, in addition to cutlery, the correct arrangement of dishes and glasses is also of great importance: the first courses should preferably be placed on an underplate that should remain on the table until the moment of dessert. In order, then, they should be placed flat dish, bottom plate (if you want to serve a soup, otherwise, for the label, the dough should also be eaten in a flat plate) and saucer starter. The possible dish of the bread must be placed at the top left, while from the centre to the right there are the glasses that must be in the following order: chalice for water (the largest), glasses for red wine and those for white wine. At most you can have five glasses on the table, while those for special distillates, such as cognac, will be put when the liqueur is served.