Close To Edge

1. Do Chinese mothers make their kids eat everything on their plates?

R/ In China, finishing everything. On your plate is considered.

Rude because somebody might. Think you didn't get enough. Food

and you're still hungry.

2. When people in Australia clink glasses while making a toast, they

must look each other’s at the other in the eyes. Why?

R/ Austrians acknowledge each other’s existence by looking directly

into each other’s eyes while clinking glasses. After all, who wants to

want to eat with somebody who doesn’t exist?

3. If you’re left-handed and you’re Iranian host gives you a right-handed

fork by mistake, what should you do?

R/ Actually, in Iran, people eat with their right hands only. The left

hand is considered gross because it’s used for, well, toilet purposes.

And besides, there’s no such thing as a right-handed fork or a lefthanded fork. Gotcha!

4. In a Spanish snack bar, what should you do with your crumbs, old

napkins, food wrappers and other debris?

R/ In snack bars in Spain, they sweep everything up at the end of

the evening -- you’re expected to dump stuff on the floor.

5. What do the English think about Americans eating fried chicken with

their hands?

R/ The English say if there are no utensils around, it’s okay to eat

with the hands. Asking for utensils would be an insult to the cook – it

would mean you didn’t want to just dive into the food.

6. What’s the right way to ask a chef for ketchup in France?

R/ Asking a chef for ketchup in France would be a insult -- it means

you don’t like the food.

7. In snooty restaurant in Germany, what is the proper way to cut your

potatoes?

R/ With a fork, of course. Everyone in Germany knows a fork makes

a nice rough cut in the potato to hold all that rich, beefy German

gravy.

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