Toothpick
 

In the USA it's considered rude to use a toothpick at the table. I was recently at a restaurant in France and at the end of the meal our French host summoned the waitress and asked her for a toothpick, she brought it and he began to use it in front of the 3 of us. In most of Europe using a toothpick in a restaurant at the table is perfectly acceptable. Are there any European countries where using a toothpick at the table is considered rude?

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Europe Forum
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

At least in England and in Germany I would go to the mens' room and not start to work on my teeth in front of my guests.

I can't think of one European country where using a toothpick at the table is okay. What about flossing at the table? @:-) China is a different story.

In some parts of the US restaurants used to dispense toothpicks at the cashier's counter out of cute little specialty machines and it was considered very suave to leave the restaurant picking away. But the customs appears to have died out. Perhaps increased dental care has something to do with it.

When in doubt, do not pick! @:-)

Just use a little common sense: Don't use a toothpick when you are with others. Never!

BTW, I still have some problems with the behavior of some Americans, like bringing some fast food and this big drinks ("GULP"?) on board of a plane. And I still see people (men & woman) putting her shoes on the table, on another chair.

In a global frame of reference, common sense does not exist.

Just to be clear, are you offended by people bringing any food & drink on a plane? Or only when the food and drink were served quickly?

is that related to the thread topic? :confused:

chrissxb
moderator
europe forum

Perhaps not-- apologies for that. Would it have been more appropriate to start a new thread?

Where do you get your info? Do you read books on etiquette? Do you talk to locals? I read in Amy Vanderbilt's book of Etiquette that in Europe it was fine to use a toothpick at the table if done so discreetly.

yes :) but not in the Europe forum :o

lets get back to toothpicks

No problems in Spain, I've seen plenty of people pick out bits of chorizo or jamon serrano in front of me. Never gave it a moments thought before.

Amy Vanderbilt died in 1974 more then 30 years ago and was considered to be a US authority on etiquette...

Given that, I only can recommend that you US guys do refrain from having your regular excessive faith in US authorities only. Under the circumstances given I would put my faith in local FTer's authority and not in a lady publishing a book in 1954 and committing suicide by jumping out ot a window of her New York townhouse after she became aware that she published nonsense on the use of toothpicks in Europe for about 20 years.

It certainly depends on the country you are in an I have a certain educated feeling that it is more commen in the south of Europe as in the north. In the countries I am living in it would be nothing but very bad behaviour.

If so, why do you ask ...Are there any European countries where using a toothpick at the table is considered rude?...
OK, go to Europe armed with Amy Vanderbilt's book .... Bonne Appetite and Good Luck!:D

But pleeeeaaase: Refrain from working on your teeth at least in the places I visit. And better keep away from the windows - you might be infected by the Amy Vanderbilt virus.

I was educated in Germany mainly in the 70s, in a middle-class family that did emphazise proper etiquette. From that education, I learned that is OK to use a toothpick at the table - but ONLY if you do it behind your napkin. Nobody is supposed to see anything but your napkin.

However, that was at a time when toothpicks were generally available from a dispenser at the table. Those dispensers have vanished since. I cannot recall any quality restaurant I visited in Europe during the last couple of years that had a toothpick dispenser. So... customs change - and a 50-year-old book might not be a good reference.

Today, I would not ask for a toothpick in a European restaurant - and thus would use none. If I happen to run across a table-side toothpick dispenser, I might still consider using it. After all, if the toothpick is offered in such a way, it should be reasonable to assume that it is OK to use, isn't it?

No!

Google is your friend:

http://www.etikette-und-mehr.de/oftgefragt.html#20

Kann ich den Zahnstocher im Restaurant unbedenklich am Tisch benutzen?
Stehen Zahnstocher bereit, dann können Sie diese benutzen, aber bitte niemals am Tisch. Es gibt keine elegante Art, sich mit vorgehaltener Hand Speisreste zu entfernen. Suchen Sie also dafür bitte die Waschräume auf.

Zahnstocher = Toothpick = never to be used at the table.

colonius, anyway, after all, you wouldn't do it ... right?

Happy Trails
 

In Italy and France it is OK to use a toothpick as long as you cover your mouth with the opposite hand.

Even in parts of Asia it's the hand-cover that makes it generally acceptable.

Austria. I was there recently and there were toothpick holders on every table. Many people were using them at their tables while covering their mouths with their other hand.

umm. what? link? where else would you use a toothpick?

food and water are necessities to life.

cheers.

In parts of Asia it is very acceptable to throw chicken bones on the carpet and to belch loudly after a good meal.

There is not elegant way at all to work on your teeth with the opposite hand covering the mouth. I would neither consider it acceptable nor "ok". The given fact that some people simply do it and do not know how to behave does not make it generally acceptable as good manners. In a good restaurant or in the company of business partners or clients, I would never even dream of using a toothpick at the table and I would be really confused if one of my partners started it. If you go to a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut and eat with you fingers or do not know how to deal with knife and fork, well....

As USAFAN pointed out very correctly, take the toothpick and go to the washing room.


By the way: We are not the only ones discussing it: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/349592

In both Norway and Sweden people use toothpicks at the table. I haven't attended extremely formal dinners, but in many restaurants there are containers of toothpicks on the table, right next to the salt and pepper. They're usually those triangular interdent stimulators, individually wrapped ("Jorden"). I've gotten used to my dining companions digging away as we wait for the coffee, fairly discretely but not behind a napkin.

According to my dentist, public toothpick use is also common among the Chinese. As she put it, it's a cultural variant.

says who? do i have to goto the restroom to wipe my mouth too?

Says any book written in German language on formal behaviour.
But feel free to missbehave....

I was brought up (in the U.S.) to believe that using a toothpick at the table is never acceptable. This idea that hiding your mouth with a napkin or (even worse) your hand makes it OK is very strange. Would it also be OK to vomit at the table as long as you covered your mouth and the food you were removing from yourself that way?