Sharing Your Food and Other Foreign Dining Traditions

Published on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, by Sarah Perry / Edit Post

At a restaurant in France, gingershelley had an experience that would be unthinkable in the United States. The dinner "started as it always does, with the lovely house course terrine of pâté and bread brought out to us to enjoy while we decided on our meal," says gingershelley.

"The terrine had about half its contents in it," and gingershelley says that it looked like it had been served to another table previously. "We ate about half of what was there, and I would think it would move on to another diner's table following us," gingershelley says. "This is SO not possible to do in the United States, and I think it is a shame. ... I am hoping to open a resto in the next couple of years, and this is exactly the sort of thing I would love to offer."

What's behind this style of eating? "I suspect it is simply tradition and as such, people enjoy the link to the past," says PhilD. "The dishes that are shared in this way tend to be served in the dish they are made in like the terrine of pâté where you simply help yourself to either a large or small portion. Other common shared dishes include baskets of charcuterie where you hack off a piece of sausage, or a cheese board [is] left at your table for you to help yourself. In many ways it is no different to the Italian anti-pasti tables or, and these are now rare, the French hors d'oeuvre tables. Here you help yourself from shared plates."

And American dining customs may equally flummox other cultures. "My Australian friends were shocked on their first visit to the U.S. to see doggie bags," says RandyB. "They said it would be illegal in Australia for health reasons. Turns out they were wrong, although many Ozzies and Australian restaurants insist it is the law, not just custom."

Discuss: Death of shared cheese at Sardi's in NY; why can't US serve shared terrine's, Amuse Bouche items like the French?

Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this post misstated gingershelley's views on shared terrines.

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POST A COMMENT |8 Comments

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  • gingershelley, looks like your thread on Chowhound Site Talk was restored earlier today.

    http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/820977

    Deborah from CHOW

  • Chowhound,

    I do love you, and am pleased at your quick response to my concerns over your editing of my post to the 'General Chowhound topics" about 'Shared dishes in France, and how that goes in the US.

    Thank you for correcting the post - including the title - about what I wrote in the post. You did say in the newer version comments that I would be proud to defend, what I was ACTUALLY...+READ

    Chowhound,

    I do love you, and am pleased at your quick response to my concerns over your editing of my post to the 'General Chowhound topics" about 'Shared dishes in France, and how that goes in the US.

    Thank you for correcting the post - including the title - about what I wrote in the post. You did say in the newer version comments that I would be proud to defend, what I was ACTUALLY talking about. Thank you for that, as that is what we expect here in this forum.

    I am though, disturbed to see that my comments on 'Site talk" feedback, etc. are all removed from the discussion. It appears that you don't want to be responsible for your error, and don't want CH members to look at the thrreads where that occured.

    Here is a little evidence:

    DepptityDawg sent me a message commenting on his being diconcerted about this concept, and now the link is no good : http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/820977

    So, Chowhound? Are you an open forum, or a venue for something else?

    Why have my comments on your mistake been removed? I think it is VERY healthy for your faithful to have a chance to comment, respond to what you made a 'big ( eronious)deal about... can't this be an open forun?

    Please put back my comments, etc, on the orginal eronious post you put on the newsletter (again - my reputation!), and subsequent comments on site board, etc.

    I dare you to be open.

    gingershelley-COLLAPSE

  • Wow, Editors of Chowhound, after fuming at you all this AM, I got home today, and you had actually gone back and addressed my concerns. You re-wrote my comments, changed the title, and quoted me accurately.
    Grateful for the quick action.
    Thank you for making me a legitimate particpant in the CH community - which I allready was... glad you chose to see that, and re-write your pretty egregious...+READ

    Wow, Editors of Chowhound, after fuming at you all this AM, I got home today, and you had actually gone back and addressed my concerns. You re-wrote my comments, changed the title, and quoted me accurately.
    Grateful for the quick action.
    Thank you for making me a legitimate particpant in the CH community - which I allready was... glad you chose to see that, and re-write your pretty egregious mis-quote of me. I just have to say, my spirit is a bit bitter about that that ever happened?

    Thanks for getting things clear. I DO have a life to live on-line, and if I have chosen for you to be part of it then I expect your editors to 'hear' my actuallity and my voice as I speak about topics. It was pretty shocking to see you mis-represent me that way.

    This Community of people on CH I have come to know and love; ther are clear voices speaking thier minds on different forums, different ideas. I am the same.
    Humbly, I will say it has seemed, that some CH people have begun to see my voice as credible, and worth appreciating. You did alot to make that not so, and make me a cartoon when I checked my email today.
    I appreciate your 'rehabilitating" my rep with the article adjustment. It should have not had to happen.

    Thank you
    Gingershelley-COLLAPSE

  • Updated to reflect the misquote - thanks for letting us know!

  • Sorry about that, gingershelley - I found your story fascinating and wanted to use it to kind of open our horizons about what's considered "normal." The way the quotation came out does sound negative - the whole quotation is "This is SO not possible to do in the United States, and I think it is a shame."

  • Hi, just want to defend myself here, Chowhound editors; YOU COMPLETELY MISSQUOTED ME HERE!
    If you look through my many posts, you would realize that I have been to France several times, have a French BF, and was actually trying to engender a conversation about how I LOVE this convivial style of serving - very welcoming and homey, as well as makes me feel 'hosted' as it is often an Amuse Buche...+READ

    Hi, just want to defend myself here, Chowhound editors; YOU COMPLETELY MISSQUOTED ME HERE!
    If you look through my many posts, you would realize that I have been to France several times, have a French BF, and was actually trying to engender a conversation about how I LOVE this convivial style of serving - very welcoming and homey, as well as makes me feel 'hosted' as it is often an Amuse Buche that comes this way.
    I wanted to hear other Chowhounds from around the country - if they see this style of service in their cities and towns, as I don't much in Seattle, where I live.
    Please be careful about misrepresenting a faithful Chowhounder like that - I feel abused by the editors, and embarrassed about how you made me sound as if I was a shocked neophite traveler! Please retract and rewrite this, or take it down, for the sake of my reputation here.-COLLAPSE

  • Just returned from Paris and was surprised to see uneaten bread returned to a bin and reserved to other patrons. Is this common or just the tradition of that particular restaurant?

  • last visit to NYC, went to French restaurant & found the appetiser was a huge platter of charcuterie & cheeses which was passed onto the next table as our mains [entres] arrived. So friendly & civilised. [down the street was a cheese shop with a resident cat to keep mice away!]. fantastic!