Emily Chan
If you have ever found yourself at an upscale restaurant nervous about which fork to use or where to place your napkin, you’re not alone. Plenty of people aren’t aware of many fine dining etiquette rules.
TikToker Coreea Antoinette (@iamcoreea) is an etiquette expert and consultant, and she’s describing the importance of etiquette through a few personal stories that occurred during her college years.
When Coreea was in her first year of college, she visited her friend’s home state of Virginia; this friend’s family was pretty well-off. They went out to dinner almost every night Coreea was visiting.
While Coreea was at a fancy Italian restaurant with her friend’s family, she realized that her dining etiquette was not up to the proper standards. Coreea was at a complete loss when presented with the meal and tried to observe the family to figure out what to do.
Her friend’s mother noticed and patiently assisted Coreea with eating the pasta correctly and explaining the purpose of each of the different utensils.
In another similar incident, this time during her junior year of college, Coreea was visiting with her father when she made another etiquette error.
Coreea’s brother had just graduated from high school, so they all went out to a steak restaurant to celebrate. She proceeded to eat her steak just like how she would at home.
Normally, she cuts the meat by running her steak knife through the tines of her fork. However, that was not the correct way to cut steak, and her father gently taught her the right method.
After those two incidents, Coreea knew she never wanted to be caught in a situation again where she did not know proper etiquette.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
