‘Put the spoon down!’
So says etiquette expert William Hanson in an Instagram advice video in which he promises to show viewers how to eat spaghetti ‘more lady, than tramp’.
Italians, he says at the start of the video, never eat spaghetti using a spoon, so this implement should be discarded.
‘Instead,’ says William, ‘you upturn the fork in your dominant hand and you go into the edge of the spaghetti and against the side of the plate or bowl and turn [the strands around the fork].’
If you need to ‘go in again’ and turn the strands around the fork some more, then do so.
Etiquette expert William Hanson in an Instagram advice video shows viewers how to eat spaghetti ‘more lady, than tramp’. ‘Put the spoon down’ is his first piece of advice
The result should be a neat ball of spaghetti around the fork.
MailOnline Travel asked William if it’s ever OK to suck the spaghetti strands and slurp.
‘No,’ replied William. ‘In Western dining we shouldn’t make noise when eating.’
And is it ever OK to tuck the napkin into the top of the shirt for eating spaghetti, as they do so often in the movies?
MailOnline Travel asked William if it’s ever OK to suck the spaghetti strands and slurp. ‘No,’ replied William. ‘In Western dining we shouldn’t make noise when eating’
‘Napkins are placed on the lap and not tucked into the shirt,’ William replied.
Is there a right and wrong for the dinnerware – is a plate preferable to a bowl?
William said: ‘There used to be a motto in Britain that only dogs eat from bowls, whereas humans have plates.
‘While dining trends and taste have changed and bowls of pasta are more commonplace, the better way to serve long pasta would be in a soup plate, or something of similar shape and size.’
Worried about how to serve the Parmesan?
William reveals that at a formal dinner party the Parmesan should be pre-grated into a ramekin or cut-glass bowl, with a base plate underneath, with a spoon ‘to help sprinkle’.
He added: ‘For very casual dining, you could allow guests to grate their own.’
For more from William visit his Instagram profile here and his website: linktr.ee/williamhanson.