How are things like the bread basket, butter and salad dressings passed?
When your host indicates (“Please help yourself to bread,” or something similar), the person closest takes the service plate/basket, offers it to the person on his left, helps himself, and passes to the person on his right. Always include the service plate in passing; don’t, for example, lift the salad dressing bowl off the service plate and pass the bowl by itself. Foods should go from the service plate to your plate, never to your mouth. Butter should be placed on your bread and butter plate, not directly on your bread. Don’t touch other people’s food, and never use your used utensils to obtain food from a service plate. Q: Is it okay to spread butter on my entire roll at one time? A: No. It is appropriate to break off a bite-sized piece of your roll, butter it and eat it, one bite at a time. If the piece you break off is slightly too big to make one bite, it’s fine to eat it in two bites, and much better than stuffing a too-large bite into your mouth. Q: Is it okay to cut your salad
