Re: CHAT: Which world? Which culture?

Christophe wrote:

En réponse à Roger Mills :
>Warning:  on my first trip to Italy, I was taken to task (granted, by
>another American, but he'd been there longer) for using the spoon---
>"That's strictly peasant-style!!"
Peasant-style?!!!! Etiquette (the kind of things you have to follow when
you're at the same table as a crowned head for instance) makes the use of
the spoon with spaghetti *mandatory*!!! So there's nothing peasant-style in
it!

Weeelll... most of the dump...er, trattorie we ate in weren't likely to be
serving a crowned head, nor even a member of the Roman High Life.....All the
natives were using only their fork... yet why was a large spoon included
with the table setting?  Sais pas :-))))

>And you use bread to sop up the extra sauce....yum.
On the other hand, etiquette says that you *mustn't* sop up the sauce in
any way. What's left of the sauce in the plate stays in the plate. Doesn't
prevent me from doing it though ;))))

Right. Moi non plus.  It's not exactly what Best People do over here,
either.... But sometimes the sauce is the best part-- don't waste a drop.
A nice filet de sole bonne femme, or a little boeuf bourgignon, hein?

I've always divided cultures into two types:  those who eat to live, and
those who live to eat.

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