north american dining etiquette

These links will take you to pages with dining etiquette information for the region. Where a particular country's dining etiquette dominates a region, those dining etiquette rules are incorporated by reference with a link to the page with the dominate dining etiquette.

How do you rest your utensils while eating?

Our resting utensils etiquette section covers the rules (american and continental) for resting your utensils when taking a break from eating, when you are finished eating, and when you are passing food [...]

Oyster Etiqette

Proper technique for eating oysters.

Caviar Etiquette

Dining etiquette for eating caviar.

Hard to Eat Foods

Proper etiquette for eating hear to eat foods.

Table Manners

It's easy to impress at the dinner table! Just take a few minutes to read through our table manners section and you'll be the most sophisticated diner at the table.

Visit our international dining etiquette section for more etiquette tips for your next trip overseas or hosting international guests!

Wine Tasting Etiquette

Once it is poured into the proper glass, it’s time to evaluate and enjoy the wine. Evaluating wine involves four basic steps – looking, swirling, smelling, and tasting.

Step #1 – Look. Holding the wine glass up against a white background, such as a napkin or table cloth, to evaluate its color and clarity. Red wines should range in color from deep purple to brick red. White wines should range in color from lemon gold to golden amber.
Step #2 – Swirl. Swirl the wine in your glass to aerate it.
Step #3 – Smell. Put your nose in the glass and take a deep breath. Older wines should have subtler aromas than younger ones.
Step #4 – Taste. To taste the wine, fill your mouth about ½ full and subtly swish the wine around.

Dining Etiquette