Etiquette Tuesday: A Time for Sharing

[ 3 ] September 18, 2012 | Johnna

©JohnnaKnowsGoodFood

The invitation is a topic that has graced the Etiquette Tuesday page on many occasions. This week instead of focusing on the typical date or friend to friend invitation I want to tap into the invitation from the restaurant to blogger, journalist and the like. As a food writer, you are constantly visiting restaurants for content and sometimes the restaurant specifically invites you in to see what they have on the menu that is worthy of publicity. Many of these events can range from a guest list of four guests to a few hundred. Today I focus on the more intimate gatherings and I say to restaurants: There’s a time for sharing and there’s a time to not share.

At intimate food dinners, you typically share the appetizers and sometimes the entrees are served family style but you should never share drinks or soups. You would think this is a no-brainer. We do not want to share fluids with everyone at the table but some restaurants still do not get it. Now there is the exception where the drinks are served pitcher style i.e. Sangria or Mimosa’s or the soup is served in a bowl where we can ladle into our own individual bowls, but the restaurants new Cosmopolitan should be divvied up into separate glasses. Few restaurants engage in this type of behavior but there are a significant amount that do, so this topic needed to be addressed.

The food community in DC is pretty close and we enjoy the company of our peers. Though we love the time we spend with one another, we do not want to share our cocktails or soups. If you do not have enough to spread the wealth, then skip that portion of the meal. The same way you would not want to go a first date and have your date turn to you to say “How about we share one beer bottle?”, food writers want the same kind of treatment. I’m just saying…

Tags: dining etiquette, Etiquette Tuesday

Category: Etiquette Tuesday

About the Author (Author Profile)

Johnna French is a Harlem NY native with deep roots in Panama, Washington, DC and North Carolina. All four places have heavily influenced her life and the foods she loves today. After graduating Howard University School of Law and beginning her life as a young professional in the city she was led to start Johnna Knows Good Food in November 2007 to keep family, friends and colleagues updated on where to go and what to eat while dining in the nation’s capitol. French, who still practices law, leads a team of three writers to cover the ever expanding Washington, DC food scene. French has been featured in print and television, appearing in Washingtonian Magazine and is a regular contributor to various local TV affiliates including WUSA 9, FOX 5 DC and WJLA (ABC Affiliate) News Channel 8. During the 2016-2017 football season, Johnna aired on Comcast Sports Mid-Atlantic (CSN) show, Redskins Life, as the weekly tailgate host. Johnna is currently a regular contributor to the FOX Baltimore Weekend morning show.