Dining

Meals are where etiquette gets tested in public, at the fastest pace. Whether it's where your rice bowl sits in Korea, when to decline food in Guam, or which side of the plate the bread lands on in France, dining customs everywhere encode the same thing: whether you're paying attention to the people you're sharing a table with.

23 rules.

Dining

Dining rules

Keep the fork in your left hand, knife in your right — even for pizza

Don't flip the whole fish over

Put bread directly on the tablecloth

Keep your hands on the table

In Germany, Hold Eye Contact When You Toast (Prost)

Restaurant tipping percentage varies sharply by country

Let your host offer food more than once

Eat and pass food with your right hand only

Don't order a cappuccino after 11am

Don't ask for parmesan on seafood pasta

Never stand chopsticks upright in rice

Don't tip

Slurping noodles is polite, not rude

Place rice to the left of soup

Keep your hands visible, and don't rush off after eating

Eat with your hands at a kamayan feast

Let the eldest or the host eat first

Say "salamat" and linger after the meal

Use the spoon in your right hand, fork in your left

Shake your cup to signal you're done with the coffee

Eat with the spoon, use the fork to push

Buy your round at the pub

Never leave chopsticks standing upright in your rice