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A very nice and talkative waitress in Milan explained to us that Italians don't drink coffee with their meal because it does not help the digestion.
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Flash--be warned that "entree" is French for appetizer (no idea how it became "main course" in American).<BR>You can certainly order just a main course in France.
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Never, never, never cut up your salad in France. That is the biggest of gaffes. You must fold it up with the knife and fork and eat it that way, no matter how big the pieces are. Also, it is condsidered VERY rude to yawn in public. One does NOT yawn at any time in public. You will also notice that the French find the American habit of smiling all the time to very odd - they think that we all must be the village idiots going around with a smile on our face. The French seldom smile just to be smiling like we do. Smiles are reserved for something really worth smiling about. <BR><BR>
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It is one thing to comment on customs, and another to imply that the customs of others are barbaric. Giving oneself airs is the ultimate rudeness.
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Dining Trivia<BR><BR>Remember that Europeans eat with the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left.<BR><BR>They do not cut the food, set the knife down and switch the fork to the right hand.<BR><BR>Also, the tines of the fork face down, not up as in the USA.
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FYI: I'm American and I eat with my knife in my right hand and my fork in my left as you said Europeans do. My parents were born here as well and this is how they were brought up to eat - it's NOT just a European habit or trait.
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Of course it depends on the "level" of the restaurant, but you are very likely to get bad looks if you walk into a "normal" restaurant and ask for a dessert and coffee. There are salons de the and even normal cafes for that (most cafes, at least in Paris, have a decent selection of pastries). Actually the poster who got the funny looks at what seems to me as having been Leon de Bruxelles can consider herself happy: 15 years ago, she would have been thrown out of the restaurant, thus enhancing the French reputation for hospitality ! As for skipping the appetizer, it is also frown upon (wrongly, IMHO, but that's the way it is...): the waiter won't help himself but asking in a slightly annoyed tone: "Alors, un plat direct, c'est ca ?" And he'll make you "pay" for it by making you wait a long time for the entree. Mind you, there is a logic to that: appetizers being normally cold, they can be served quite rapidly while the main course is being prepared, so that you eventually save time.
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I am fond of Pineau Brillet, which is cognac and white wine. Do you drink this before or after the meal?
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American writes<BR>>...I eat with my knife in my right hand and my fork in my left...it's NOT just a European habit or trait.<BR><BR> That makes two of us.<BR><BR> My remark was based on contemporary etiquette books.<BR><BR> Do you keep the fork tines up or down?<BR><BR>
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