One of the most frequent questions I keep receiving is about the relevance of etiquette in today’s era.
After all, isn’t etiquette a bunch of made-up rigorous rules that only the upper class liked to follow in the past?
My answer? It depends.
When we merely scratch the surface of etiquette, usually we discover a set of habits and rules that tend to create controversy and take over the internet. However, these rules, despite standing out as the most disputed, are only a small fragment of what etiquette really consists of.
Holding the silverware in a specific way, serving wine at a particular temperature or introducing people in a certain order… above all of these habits stands something of much higher importance: Respect towards others and our surroundings.
Because following the dress code won't save us as long as we do not pay our respects to those who surround us and the place we live in. Now, when I say ‘‘respect’’, you might imagine different things and ways depending on which culture and traditions you follow. And here comes the utter character of etiquette - it changes and morphs into a different set of habits determined by time, occasion and place.
I am a firm believer that good manners will never go out of style and respectful human interaction is definitely not a thing of the past. We did need it, we do need it and we will need it going forward. We might not be as rigid as before when it comes to certain dress codes, but at the core, we still need respectful behaviour as much as we did before, if not more.
Yours sincerely,
Katarina
If you wish to become confident at any dining venue, I wrote a compact, practical ebook for you with Western Dining Etiquette from A to Z.
You will learn the art of table setting and seating, I will walk you through different dining styles and courses, all the way to the last cherry on the dining top - the digestif. As a bonus, you will receive a guide on how to tame tricky foods such as shrimp, oysters or escargot.