Finger cup
The finger bowl is part of a table setting . In the water served in it, fingers can be cleaned without leaving the table.
History and use
The use of finger bowls arose in the 17th and 18th centuries from the development of distinguished table manners in aristocratic and upper middle class circles on the one hand and the need for more hygiene on the other. Eating with fingers was pushed back more and more by the increasing spread of filigree cutlery, and accordingly, individual attention to finger hygiene increased in dishes that were still eaten without cutlery. Owning a particularly multi-part, high-quality, but also ingeniously useful table setting , which offered every single guest the greatest possible comfort, was also very prestigious at the time.
The way in which finger bowls are used has hardly changed to this day. Each guest receives their own bowl. It is usually filled with lukewarm water and a lemon wedge or wedge. The juice of the lemon serves both to dissolve traces of fat and to neutralize odors. In earlier times, rose water was also used, but is rarely used today. Occasionally rose or mint leaves are added.
When offering, the water displacement caused by the immersion of the fingers should be considered. So the bowl shouldn't be too full. The guest, on the other hand, should never, even if the size of the bowl permit, immerse his hand all the way in, but always only his fingers. Another, separate napkin is provided for the finger bowl to dry the fingers.
Misunderstanding and drinking the contents of the finger bowl as an aperitif or an additional drink should be avoided. Corresponding anecdotes are widespread and have features of a modern legend . One of these incidents is said to have happened at the court of the "Sun King" Louis XIV . At a banquet, a young provincial nobleman allegedly took a long swig from the finger-cup, which led to sniffing and laughter at the banquet table. Louis XIV is said to have resolved the unpleasant situation in favor of the embarrassed young man by also emptying his finger bowl, which the other guests had to do after him and which immediately stopped the laughter. Similar stories, however, are also attributed to various other statesmen and women, which are used to illustrate their particular tact. Such a misunderstanding is also attributed to the widespread use of champagne bowls today. In the imitation of courtly customs, nobility and bourgeois circles mistakenly mistook finger cups and candy bowls for drinking glasses and used them incorrectly.
Today finger bowls are only rarely offered for private occasions, and then mostly only for served dishes that are eaten with the help of the fingers. Dishes in which finger bowls can be used include crustaceans and shellfish such as lobsters , crayfish and oysters , eels , artichokes or various types of " finger food ", provided this is offered as part of a menu and not a buffet . Roasted chickens and chicken legs are not eaten with the fingers, but with cutlery, according to the table manners in Western European culture, especially in upscale restaurants. The particularly small quail legs and chicken wings , on the other hand, are finger food.
Today, moist refreshing tissues , which are offered in many catering establishments, trains and airplanes, have a similar function to the finger bowls . These single-use products clean the hand with synthetic ingredients and often also use the lemon aroma. In upscale Japanese restaurants, in addition to the finger bowls that can also be found there, offering an oshibori , a damp towel, is widespread, but is usually used before a meal to clean hands and face.
literature
- Nandine Meyden: Table manners: In the restaurant. At a business lunch. At home. Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft , Hanover 2008
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Table manners: Fingergerichte , hr4 of April 23, 2012
- ↑ Brigitte Ruhleder: Manners im Beruf , Gabal Verlag , Offenbach 2001, p. 48/49
- ↑ Brigitta Fuchs, Christian Schönherr (ed.): Judgment and Pedagogy , Verlag Königshausen & Neumann , Würzburg 2007, p. 120
- ↑ Table manners on Knigge.de