Knife in the right hand... and fork in the left?

Much has been said about eating etiquette and table manners - and here are some things that I just can't stand - bad eating etiquette.

Yes I relish slurping my rasam sadham and crunching into my appalam. But then, I certainly wouldn't scoop handful of sambhar and put my tongue out and slather the liquid on my tongue at home, let alone a restaurant. Sadly, I got to witness this tearing-my-hair-apart scene at the food court this evening. My colleague who happens to have terrible table manners managed to gobble the dosai and lap up the sambhar. It was at that moment, I wished I rather starved than gone to the food court to eat. Now seriously, what's with putting one's tongue out when placing a morsel of food?

There was this other incident that I can never forget - When the hubby and I had been to Kolkata, we went to this famous Bhojo Hari Manna for lunch. Being a small restaurant, we had to share the table with another couple. The man, who ate his ten-course (!!) meal in no time, was a sheer source of embarassment to his wife. The way he cut the fish and put his fingers into the rice bowl - made me want to run away from the table. Clumsy / Messy are understatements. As he went on ordering, the wife refused to partake more of the food, and she looked at us apologetically. I merely looked down and began to pick at my food.

This other gentleman who works in my office has this yucky habit of strewing food all over the table. One look and you'll know what he has had for lunch. He normally buys 2 packs of rice and 1 pack of some mixture /chips, takes a plate from the shelf and sits down at the table. By the time he's done, atleast quarter of the pack of the mixture would be on the table, with similar proportions of rice. He doesn't even bother to wash his hand after food (no, he doesn't use a spoon). He rinses (mind you - only rinses - doesn't use Pril / whatever liquid) the plate in the wash area and puts it on the shelf. Not once, has he cleaned the mess. Now if you think, this is only at lunch, wait till you see when he comes in to the pantry for tea. Now, I'm not going to explain that.

Yet another friend, opens his mouth too wide to talk while he eats and I simply HATE it. No, I don't want to see how you eat, Thank you!

The list goes on, but for now, I'm just going to continue licking the vengaya chutney off my fingers and relishing the rava dosai. Bon Appetit !