Dinner Etiquette: How to Eat Abroad

For my first post on WildJunket blog, I thought I’ll start by discussing dinner etiquettes, an issue that I’m often concerned about  when traveling to a new country. If friends and acquaintances are kind enough to show you around their home country and share their culture with you, the last thing you’d want to do is to offend them in any way. Sharing a meal is a very important social interaction in most cultures and doing it wrong could lead to an uncomfortable experience for both parties. I’m going to share with you a couple of tips I’ve learned over the years that could help you avoid this kind of situation.

Eating utensils

People in different parts of the world use different kinds of utensils to eat their food and some use nothing more than their bare hands while satisfying their hunger.

Asians are usually very understanding to foreigners who are not familiar with using the chopsticks and they’ll be happy to provide you with a fork when needed. However, if you want to integrate and immerse in their culture, I’d recommend learning to use them. In that case you might consider buying a chopstick trainer, or if you are a DIY master you can even build your own in a matter of seconds with just a rubber band and a piece of paper. It’s really not that difficult and anyone can do it with just a few days of practice.

In some parts of the world it is customary to eat with your hands. I doubt anyone would be offended if you ask for some utensils but locals always appreciate the effort when you try. So just wash your hands clean and have fun with it, you will feel like a kid playing with your food and it will make your meal a memorable experience.

Flickr photo by hiyori13

Learn when to stop

This one is the trickiest of them all, because it can vary even within the same country and it’s the one thing that could really upset some people depending on where you are. While in some parts of Asia like Singapore or Malaysia, it’s considered very rude to leave anything on your plate (and when I say anything I mean just two or three rice grains), in places like Italy and Spain, completely clearing up your plate will leave your hosts thinking that they didn’t prepare enough food for you and you are still hungry. If you find yourself getting your plate refilled again and again, consider leaving a tad bit of food in it and show your best “I’m so full” face, maybe accompanied by a hand on your belly.

Flickr photo by fred_v

The sounds you make while eating

In western countries, it’s usually considered rude to eat with your mouth open or make noises while eating. But in some Asian countries, it can be an acceptable behavior and even sometimes encouraged. In Japan for example, the amount of noise you make while slurping a bowl of noodle soup is directly proportional to your amount of enjoyment from the food. Therefore, a perfectly polite western visitor could be unadvertedly offending his host while silently savoring the udon.

As always, if you are unsure about how to behave yourself in a foreign dinner table, look around and imitate.

I found this topic to be a quite difficult one to find information about, so if any of you intrepid travelers know of any special eating customs or have an interesting story to share, please do so on the comment section below.

Happy travels and bon appetite!