The last time I was back to see my parents, I realized how much there was to remember when eating at home. Since many people’s experience is limited to eating at Chinese restaurants, I put down some rules in these notes.
Center
Be advised: do not root through food dishes with your chopsticks. Just grab and go.
Be advised: inedible bits (bones, ginger slices, green onions) are to be placed with chopsticks in the side plate in front of you. Do not spit them into the plate.
Be advised: when taking food from the center, start from the sides facing you. Exceptions may be made if a dish has multiple regions.
Be advised: when done with one side of a fish dish, pull the bones off to get to the other side. Do not flip the fish. Do not flip the fish. Do not flip the fish.
Bowl
Be advised: the proper way of holding a small bowl of rice is with your thumb on the lip, index and middle fingers curled around the side, and the rest on the bottom.
Be advised: eat rice by bringing your bowl up to your mouth (like you’re sipping soup) and scooping it in. Do not let any rice drop to the table.
Be advised: as you eat, keep the rice in your bowl level by smoothing it out with your chopsticks over time. Do this without rotating your bowl.
Be advised: do not leave any grains of rice in bowl.
Chopsticks
Be advised: pick up chopsticks so that the bottom ends line up.
Knives and forks are viewed in much the same light that most Europeans see the use of guns in the United States.
Be advised: you should not need to pierce any food with chopsticks. They are either small enough that you can just pick them up, or are soft enough that you can break them apart into smaller pieces.
Be advised: chopsticks are not to be used to push plates of food around, stuck vertically into your rice, for waving or pointing, to be crossed, as drumsticks, or as swords.
Misc
I think the idea is that it’s the only time you don’t have to be looking at the table anyway.
Be advised: watching TV while at the dinner table is only allowed during the time that you’re chewing.
Be advised: no elbows on the table.
Be advised: eat more.