A Matter of Manners

Table manners are a funny thing, no? Once regarded as the epitome of a good upbringing, they seem - according to recent surveys - to have fallen by the wayside somewhat, with more and more of us committing an etiquette-related faux pas - and then not really caring about it. They're sort of seen as really old-fashioned, uptight, not at all loose like we are in the 21st century. Word is, we're quickly devolving into some kind of urchin Neanderthal species but with better technology.

Take the recent cultural shift to snap your food and pin it to a virtual board before eating it. This has been widely acknowledged to drive chefs and other diners crazy. Yet people still do it, which suggests a cavalier regard for other people's opinions at best and a curiously unattractive self-obsession at worst. Or the constant checking of social media: In fact one chef, Richard Turner of the eponymous Turner's in Birmingham, outright banned phones during the Birmingham Food Festival because he was so incensed at their liberal usage. “Mealtimes, whether that’s eating out or dining at home, should be about savouring food and enjoying the company of the people you are with – it’s not about sending emails, reading your texts or updating your Facebook profile.” Indeed.

But the creeping bad manners tally doesn't stop there. Almost half of people think it's ok to have your phone at the table and check it constantly. 52% of people no longer consider it necessary to cut up their food before eating it (We have no idea what this means either. We don't know whether the image makes us laugh or gak). 13% of families like to bring their entire set of portable technology to entertain the children, instead of perhaps teaching them how to sit at a table and converse. Four out of ten people apparently don't wash their hands before dinner, but then, if you're not cutting up your food anyway, it's surely a moot point... Makes the old "elbows off the table" mantra seem quite benign, in retrospect...

And yet we're also quite certain about what we don't like. Half of us find people eating with their mouth open completely disgusting (But how else can they fit in an entire jacket potato?) and 40% hate other people using their phone. This may be a generational thing, admittedly, but even so, isn't it still just a bit weird to arrange face-to-face contact and then ignore it for the virtual?

What's your table bugbear? And are you finding it's on the increase? Have you given up and joined them or do you just eat alone, the better to commune with your phone screen?