Food, and Table Etiquette.
THE well-known Sunday-school axion, “Eat as much as you can, but pocket nothing” would not be appropriate in Japan,where the visitor partakes but sparingly of the refreshment set before him, but sees nothing to be ashamed of in stowing away several slices of cake in the capacious sleeve which serves him as a pocket, when he takes his leave.
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And at the conclusion of a dinner-party, every guest is handed on his departure, a box containing his or her share of the uneaten portions of the feast, which is accepted as entirely “comme-il-faut.”
The Japanese preserve their potatoes in sugar, pickle their plums, and salt cherry-blossoms to infuse as tea.
They have no distinctive dishes or drinks for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, as we have, but fish-soups, pickles, sweets, and rice “a discretion,” are common to every meal, so that a foreigner could never know, save for the time of day, which of those meals was being partaken of.
The men make themselves merry with wine before dinner, not after.
Sweets are placed on the table simultaneously with soups, fish, and vegetables. And at the conclusion of a dinner-party, where we should have fruit and dessert, a huge, coarse, red, uncooked fish is set before each guest, the sight and smell of which is anything but agreeable to the foreigner, coming as it does, after the more delicate courses have been served. He soon learns however, that this entree is only for appearance sake, for it is afterwards packed and handed to him with the other viands when he takes his departure.
It is also taken as a delicate compliment to the host, and a recognition of the good cheer he has provided, if the guest eructate audibly during the repast; and it is not considered any evidene of ill-breeding, if the acts of mastication and drinking are performed noisily, and not silently as with us.
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