The Etiquette Crime You Could Unknowingly Commit In France

When it comes to dining etiquette, the French share many of the same rules as Americans. For example, loudly burping at the table or snapping your fingers at your server is considered very rude. Picking your teeth and keeping your hands below the table are also common no-nos. On the other hand, you could be sitting at the dinner table in France and do something completely "normal" that turns out to be a major eyebrow-raiser to the French people around you. One of these faux pas has to do with the way you eat your salad.

When presented with a plate of salad greens during your meal, it's important to note that the only utensil you should use to eat is a fork. More specifically, the French never cut their lettuce leaves into smaller pieces with a knife. Doing so would publicly imply that whoever prepared the salad did it wrong. Even if they did, using a knife blatantly points it out. Instead, you should try to fold any large leaves into smaller "packages," so to speak, so that they fit on your fork. It's perfectly okay to anchor a large piece of lettuce with a chunk of bread to push and pierce the lettuce onto the tines. Some hosts and restaurants will go so far as to ensure there are no knives on the table at all when the salad course is served.

But we're just getting started about the French's seriousness when it comes to their salads. Never using a knife to cut the leaves is just scratching the surface of the sorrel. When preparing salads for a meal, the chef or cook isn't allowed to use a knife either. Chopping salad greens with a knife leads to the lettuce browning, so larger pieces of lettuce are torn by hand. Lettuce (which often comes from local markets or is grown in personal gardens) must be thoroughly washed and meticulously dried by hand as well. Unlike America's sturdy iceberg and romaine varietals, the greens used for salads in France tend to be much more delicate, bruising easily if they are handled too roughly. With that said, prepping a simple salad course can be tedious and time-consuming, but nonetheless, an important part of a full French meal.

This may be why French dinner salads are often presented as lettuce only with a bit of vinaigrette — no cucumbers, croutons, or sunflower seeds at all. Because of its simplicity, the salad acts as a beautiful palate cleanser, which is sensible because, in France, it always comes after the main course and before the cheese course. As for the vinaigrette, it is only added to the greens right before the salad is served. If poured on too early, the acid from the vinaigrette can affect the soft leaves, making them limp and sad.