1. As soon as you sit down , the napkin should be placed on your lap.
Table Manners
As soon as you sit down , the napkin should be placed on your lap.
Use the cutlery from outside , the fish fork and knife for your appetizer, and soup spoon for soup.
Dinner fork and knife for the main dish
Desert fork and knife for a desert, depending on what is served .
Common everyday place is different from formal place setting.
The proper way to use cutlery is ,knife on the right and fork on the left.
Spoon is only for soup and desert, not for rice and other food items.

2. (8) Arrangement of your cutlery that shows that you have finished eating. (9) The napkin should not be used as a bib, It should not be placed around the neck, and also not to be use to blow your nose. (10)Use a single corner of the napkin through the entire meal. (11) Avoid burping out hand on the table. (12) Wait until the host or hostess tells you where to sit. (13) Guys should pull out the chairs for the ladies next to them ,helping them to be sated first. (14) Pray before you start eating, if you are a guest and your host does not offer to pray , you can pray silently ,it’s the responsibility of the host to decide to decide if you are to pray or not. (15) After serving your own meal you should wait for others to take theirs before you start eating . Make sure to take the quantity that will allow others to take as much as you have taken.

3. (16) If there are bread rolls on the table, you must pick the one your hand has touched.
(17) When passing a glass or cup , never touch the rim.
(18) Never take more food than you can finish.
(19) Always chew with your mouth closed.
(20) Never talk with a full mouth.
(21) Elbows are not to be rested on the table during the meal.
(22) Sit up straight . Lift your food to your mouth . Lower your head to pick your food.
(23) If you need to use the restroom , simply say “ may I please be excused for a moment . Don’t say “may I please use the toilet ”
(24) At formal banquets, if a woman should get up from the table, all men should stand . The man seated next to her should move her chair when she returns , all men stand and reseat after she is seated.
(25) Use desert spoons for recreems , Custard creams, pudding and other soft dessert , desert forks for cakes, pies and most fruits.
(26) Have good conversation during meals (positive and pleasant) nothing to have an argument.

4. (27) Don’t talk with your hands during meal, particularly when you are holding a cutlery . (28) While we thank God before the meal , it’s good to thank the hostess during the meal. (29) At home, always clear your plates from the table. When you are a gust, offer to help. (30) When you rise from the table, push your chair back under the table , place your napkin unfolded beside your plate. (31) To indicate you have finished eating , arrange your fork and knife parallel to each other . (32) Tooth picks should be used privately, it’s unacceptable in the dinner table. (33) After the meal ask to be excused.