Originally Posted by
wharvey
I personally will not start eating my meal until everyone has their meal. It just seem impolite to me to eat while others are waiting. Just my personal view.
+1 This is how I feel too, notwithstanding what I have heard about etiquette (see below).
Originally Posted by
justforfun
Although we think that waiting for everyone to be served before starting is proper, etiquette says that hot food should be consumed when served.
I had always heard that the rule is that once at least half the table has received their food, you may start eating. (This is for reasonably sized tables, not very large groups.)
Someone with a Miss Manners book could probably tell us what their book says.